Who is Senator Markwayne Mullin?
SENATOR Markwayne Mullin only assumed office on January 3, 2023, but he's already making waves in Congress.
On Tuesday, November 14, 2023, Mullin challenged Sean O'Brien, the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, to a fistfight in the middle of a Senate hearing.
Who is Senator Markwayne Mullin?
Mullin, 44, is a businessman, politician, and US Senator from Oklahoma.
He assumed office on January 3, 2023.
He is the first Native American US Senator since Ben Nighthorse Campbell retired in 2005.
Mullin is also the second Cherokee Nation citizen elected to the Senate.
He is currently the only serving senator without at least a Bachelor's degree.
He received an Associate's degree in construction technology from the Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology in 2010.
states that he: "left college to fight to save his family's plumbing business."
He was formerly the US Representative for 2nd congressional district, a position he held from 2013 to 2023.
Most read in The US Sun
The Senator is also a former professional mixed martial arts fighter.
He has a professional record of 5-0.
Mullin was inducted into the Oklahoma Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2016 and remains active in the wrestling community.
During the 2012 2nd congressional race, Mullin branded himself as an outsider; his campaign slogan was "A rancher. A businessman. Not a politician!"
He defeated Democrat George Faught, becoming the first Republican to represent the district since Tom Coburn in 2001 and only the second since 1921.
In February 2022, after then-US Senator Jim Inhofe announced he would resign from his seat at the end of the 117th United States Congress, Mullin announced he would run in the special election.
Mullin's website brands him as a true Conservative: "In Congress, he fought the liberals trying to stop President Trump. He is a tried-and-true conservative leader who will NEVER BACK DOWN to the D.C. liberal elites."
In a field of 13 candidates, Mullin received 44% of the votes but fell short of the 50% required to avoid a runoff.
On August 23, 2023, Mullin easily defeated former state House Speaker T.W. Shannon in the state's runoff election.
Shannon only received 18% of the vote.
Mullin then faced Democratic nominee, former 5th District Congresswoman Kendra Horn, in the November 8 general election.
Mullin defeated Horn with 61.8% of the vote.
In June 2023, reported that Teamsters President Sean O'Brien called Mullin a "clown" and a "fraud."
“In reality, just a clown & fraud. Always has been, always will be. Quit the tough guy act in these senate hearings. You know where to find me. Anyplace, Anytime cowboy."
In November 2023 during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, Mullin responded to O'Brien's criticism.
“Sir, this is a time, this is a place. You want to run your mouth, we can be two consenting adults, we can finish it here."
He added, "You want to do it now? Stand your butt up then."
The duo were quickly shut down by Vermont Independent Senator Bernie Sanders, who started tapping his gavel and shouted: “Hold it. No, no, no, sit down. Sit down!”
“You’re a United States senator, sit down. This is a hearing and God knows the American people have enough contempt for Congress."
Mullin then reportedly summoned the Teamster to a charity [MMA] match next year in Tulsa.
How many kids does Markwayne Mullin have?
Markwayne Mullin has six children.
He married his high school sweetheart, Christie Rowan, in 1997.
The duo, who have been married for 26 years, are raising their children in Westville, Oklahoma, a few miles from the Arkansas border.
The family lives on Mullin Ranch, a working cow-calf operation.
Mullin and Rowan already had three children, Jim, Andrew, and Lara, when they decided to adopt twin girls Ivy and Lynette in 2013.
Ivy and Lynette were born to Christie's distant teenage cousin and were being raised separately by her aging great-aunts.
They adopted a sixth child, Jayce Caviness, after his father passed away in 2017.
The Mullins are members of the Assembly of God Church, an international Pentecostal denomination with over 3 million members and 13,000 churches in the US.
Mullin's website states that he is "100% pro-life."
In an essay for , which covers Oklahoma politics and government, Mullin wrote: "As a father of six amazing children, three of whom came into our lives through the blessing of adoption, I could not be more proud to represent and reside in the most pro-life state in the nation."
What is Markwayne Mullin's net worth?
Mullin's net worth has grown tremendously over the last decade.
His website's biography says he "lives on a working ranch in rural Oklahoma, and he's a businessman like Donald Trump."
In addition to Mullin Plumbing, when elected to Congress in 2013, Mullin owned Mullin Properties, Mullin Farms, and Mullin Services.
In 2012, he reported between $200,000 and $2 million in income from two family companies.
In 2017, Mullin drew criticism during a town hall meeting, telling his constituents that it was "bullcrap" that taxpayers paid his salary.
As reported by , Mullin said: "I pay for myself. I paid enough taxes before I got here and continue to through my company to pay my own salary. This is a service. No one here pays me to go.";
As of 2022, Mullin annually takes home the $174,000 US Congress base salary in addition to any profits made from his multiple businesses.
By the end of 2021, Mullin's reported net worth increased to a range of $31.6 million to $75.6 million.
The increase was from the sale of his plumbing-related companies to HomeTown Services, a multi-state residential heating, air conditioning, plumbing, and electrical company.
The sale occurred in early 2021, while Mullin was serving in the House of Representatives.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
In August 2022, after Mullin publicly opposed President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness plan, the (formerly Twitter) account tweeted that Mullin had benefited from $1.4 million of federal PPP loan forgiveness.
Mullin also voted against the TRUTH Act, a bill that would have required public disclosure of companies that received funding through the program.