President-elect Donald J. Trump has tapped former Cabinet member and pro-wrestling billionaire Linda McMahon to run the US Department of Education, an agency he has vowed to eliminate.
In a statement announcing his nomination, Trump called McMahon “a fierce advocate” for parental rights.
As education secretary, McMahon will “fight tirelessly to expand ‘Choice,’ ” Trump said, referring to policies that divert taxpayer dollars from traditional public schools so families can send their children to charter schools or private schools at no or little cost to them through tax credits and tuition vouchers.
“We will send Education back to the states,” Trump said, “and Linda will spearhead that effort.”
Here’s what else to know about Trump’s pick for the next education secretary.
She made her fortune through professional wrestling
McMahon, 76, cofounded World Wrestling Entertainment, or WWE, with her husband, Vince McMahon. She served as CEO of the Stamford, Conn.-based professional wrestling empire from 1997 to 2009, according to The Washington Post.
She and her husband’s relationship with Trump dates to at least the late 1980s, according to the Post, when WWE held its annual WrestleMania at Trump Plaza in Atlantic City. Trump appeared on WrestleMania in 2007 and shaved Vince McMahon’s head after winning “Battle of the Billionaires.” Trump was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2013.
The McMahons, along with WWE and its parent company, are being sued for allegedly allowing a former ringside announcer to sexually abuse teenage boys. The lawsuit, filed in October on behalf of five John Does, claims the McMahons knew that Melvin Phillips Jr., who died in 2012, preyed on the children he hired as “Ring Boys” during his decades-long career at the WWE, and did little stop him.
An attorney for Linda McMahon denied the allegations, telling CNN the lawsuit “is filled with scurrilous lies, exaggerations, and misrepresentations.”
She has no classroom experience and a limited background in education policy
McMahon served for a year on the Connecticut State Board of Education, starting in 2009. She was also on the board of trustees for several years for Sacred Heart University, a private Catholic college in Connecticut.
She attended East Carolina University in North Carolina, where she initially hoped to study to become a teacher, but, as she told Connecticut lawmakers, she set aside those plans when she married Vince McMahon.
She resigned from the education board in 2010 so she could run as a Republican for US Senate. She lost that year to Senator Richard Blumenthal. She ran again in 2012 and lost to Senator Chris Murphy.
She’s a longtime Trump ally and former Cabinet member
McMahon led the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term from 2017 to 2019. She is also the co-chairperson of Trump’s transition team and a major Republican donor. She gave more than $7 million to two pro-Trump super PACs during his first bid for the presidency.
After resigning from SBA, she became chairperson of America First Action, a super PAC backing Trump’s 2020 campaign. In 2021, she cofounded the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank that promotes “patriotic civics education,” reduced federal oversight, merit pay for teachers, and redirecting federal funds to school choice programs.
McMahon supports apprenticeships, technical education
Critics of her nomination, including the country’s largest educators union, blasted her lack of experience in public schools.
“By selecting Linda McMahon, Donald Trump is showing that he could not care less about our students’ futures,” said National Education Association president Becky Pringle in a statement, dubbing McMahon “Betsy DeVos 2.0,” as Trump’s former education secretary also had no classroom experience and supported vouchers.
But Keri Rodrigues, president of the National Parents Union, expressed hope in Trump’s pick, telling The 74 website that an education secretary who is focused on preparing students for the workforce “is not a bad thing.”
McMahon supports expanding federal Pell grant eligibility beyond college students to those in workforce training programs, like software coding boot camps.
“Our educational system must offer clear and viable pathways to the American Dream aside from four-year degrees,” she wrote in a column in September in support of the Bipartisan Workforce Pell Act.
In an X post last week, McMahon touted apprenticeship programs, like those offered in Switzerland, as a “pathway to successful careers.”
“I’ve witnessed the transformative power of education, both in the classroom and also in apprenticeship programs,” McMahon said in a subsequent X post. “All students should be equipped with the necessary skills to prepare them for a successful future.”
Deanna Pan can be reached at deanna.pan@globe.com. Follow her @DDpan.