Who is Linda McMahon? Trump names WWE co-founder as new education secretary

President-elect Donald Trump has announced Linda McMahon as his pick for Secretary of Education. Although she was initially considered for the Commerce Department.
McMahon, a former administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA) and co-founder of World Wrestling Entertainment, will become the Education Secretary. Trump had promised to cut this agency down and reallocate its functions to the states.
The Education Department plays a key role in providing funding to public schools, administering federal student aid programs, and gathering data on education in the United States. Trump has pledged to dismantle much of its federal oversight.
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“We will send Education BACK TO THE STATES, and Linda will spearhead that effort,” Trump said in a statement released on Tuesday.
McMahon served as the head of the SBA from 2017 to 2019 during Trump’s first term. Prior to her political career, she co-founded Capitol Wrestling, now World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE), with her husband, Vince McMahon.
Most recently, both McMahons were named in a lawsuit alleging “systemic and pervasive abuse” of underage children within the organization.
McMahon also made a name for herself in politics, running as the Republican nominee for US Senate in Connecticut in 2010, where she lost to Democrat Richard Blumenthal. Despite the loss, McMahon served as chair of the board for the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank created by Trump aides in 2021 to promote his priorities. She also played a huge role in Trump’s transition team, working alongside billionaire Howard Lutnick, who has been tapped to lead the Department of Commerce.
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During the recent Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, McMahon praised Trump’s economic record, saying, “President Trump is a job creator and the best friend American workers have had in the White House.”