Chicago – November 20, 2024
President-elect Donald Trump named his new secretary of education, tapping former Small Business Administration head and former wrestling executive Linda McMahon for the position.
The Education Department provides some funding for public schools, administers federal student aid programs and collects data on US education. Trump has vowed to close the department and redistribute most services to state-level education officials.
“We will send Education BACK TO THE STATES, and Linda will spearhead that effort,” Trump said in a Tuesday statement.
McMahon served as administrator of the Small Business Administration under Trump’s first term from 2017 to 2019. In 2010, she ran as the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in Connecticut but lost to current Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal.
She remained a close ally to the former president as chair of the board for the America First Policy Institute, a conservative think tank founded by Trump aides in 2021 to promote his GOP priorities. McMahon has also co-led Trump’s transition team alongside fellow billionaire Howard Lutnick, who Trump selected to lead the Commerce Department.
