The Senate confirmed Linda McMahon to lead the Department of Education in a 51 to 45 vote Monday.
Controversy surrounding the department’s future drove the vote to party lines as President Donald Trump’s pledge to abolish it, and McMahon’s support of his goals, posed a concern for many Democrats.
The department was established in 1979 and oversees public school funding, programs for low-income students and administers student loans. Trump first said he would abolish the department in a social media video in September 2023, saying, “One other thing I’ll be doing very early in the administration is closing up the Department of Education in Washington, D.C., and sending all education and education work and needs back to the states.”
Trump advocated for education to be passed back to the states amid worsening test scores, funding for DEI teacher trainings and Biden-era student loan cancellations despite the Supreme Court ruling against loan forgiveness in August 2024. A month after the court’s ruling, Trump reiterated his stance on the campaign trail, “I say it all the time, I’m dying to get back to do this. We will ultimately eliminate the federal Department of Education.”
Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who voted against McMahon’s confirmation, said her reservations with the new department head stem from her support of Trump’s plan to dismantle the department.
“She answered a letter to Senator Kim [Democratic New Jersey Sen. Andy Kim] and me saying she absolutely agreed with shutting down the Department of Education,” said Warren following the McMahon’s cloture vote on Thursday. “Bad for students, bad for our entire educational system.”
Democratic Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly also had reservations regarding McMahon’s Secretary of Education nomination, asking in jest, “Does that department still exist?”
“The biggest issue I have with the Department of Education is Donald Trump’s plan to get rid of it and her commitment to do that. And that’s a problem,” Kelly said after McMahon’s cloture vote. “Kids across the country rely on that, especially kids with learning disabilities and other issues. This seems like a massive mistake they are about to make.”
McMahon is known for her role in the creation of World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) alongside her ex-husband, Vince McMahon. She left the WWE in 2009 to pursue an interest in education, serving on the Connecticut State Board of Education for a year.
McMahon later decided to run for a Senate seat in Connecticut in the 2010 and 2012 elections, but instead became a campaign donor after losing both races. She donated over $7 million to political action groups that supported Trump’s presidential campaign in 2016 and was nominated to be in his cabinet, serving as the Secretary of the Small Business Administration from 2017 to 2019.
McMahon has also served as the Chair of the America First Policy Institute since 2019 where she supported parent’s rights, school choice and state and district control of education. She opposed policies like political indoctrination in schools as well as government overreach.
Thank you to my family and friends who stood by me during my hearing yesterday and to all who have supported me on this journey.
I look forward to serving in President Trump’s Administration soon as the next Secretary of Education. 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/zdg7okk9Nb
— Linda McMahon (@Linda_McMahon) February 14, 2025
Former Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, who served during Trump’s previous administration, has also floated dismantling the department, writing in a column that while the idea comes off “a bit radical” the department has actually worsened the state of education in America.
“I can understand how that idea, which President Donald Trump is committed to advancing, might sound a bit radical,” she wrote for the Free Press. “Having spent four years on the inside as secretary of education, struggling to get the department’s bureaucracy to make even the smallest changes to put the needs of students first, I can say conclusively that American students will be better off without.” (RELATED: Department of Education Warns Schools Nationwide Must Drop DEI Policies Or Lose Federal Funding)
When the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee voted McMahon through to the full Senate on Feb. 20, Republican Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy referenced McMahon’s experience at the SBA while expressing his support for her confirmation.
“She successfully led large organizations for decades; first as a businesswoman, then as head of the Small Business Administration in President Trump’s first term,” Cassidy said. “Throughout the nomination process, Ms. McMahon demonstrated a strong vision for the Department of Education. She committed to empowering parents and returning power to states and local communities, which, by the way, are best equipped to address students’ needs.”
After voting for McMahon to move forward to a full Senate vote on Thursday, Republican South Carolina Sen. Lindsay Graham also had an upbeat response regarding his stance on McMahon, stating, “I like her!”
“She’s smart, she has President Trump’s ear and I feel that she’s the right person to restructure education,” said Graham. The Department of Education as we know it has fallen in disfavor with Republicans, so she would be a good person to go and fix it.”
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