Politics
A 'Locally hated/Dyslexic Hairstylist' battles the Christian right in a Texas town
One might wonder how Adrienne Quinn Martin, a hairdresser, former belly dancer, mother of two and long-ago brand girl for a liquor distributor, a woman who celebrated her husband’s birthday on TikTok by swaying against him while listening to Al Green, became the lone-elected Democrat in one of the reddest towns in Texas.
“Oh,” Martin says, “I’ve had lives.”
Fluent in social media, she is an array of personas: a hard to quantify free-spirit, who in one instant can offer fashion tips (“I’m having a Britney moment”) and, in another, analyze voter registration data. She is a fierce political operative, a guileless influencer and a relentless voice against the far right in this Christian, white, cattle-talking town of about 12,600.
Martin washes Rose Simpson’s hair at Four Thirteen Salon in Granbury, Texas.
“Wait,” she said, when asked to call up a Twitter post about a constable who once had ties to the militant Proud Boys. “I have that.”
Click, scroll, click.
“Here it is,” she said. “I have, like, 33,000 screenshots.”
She smiled and swiped through more images on her phone.
To the dismay of many here, Martin helped organize a Black Lives Matter protest and welcomed drag queens to town for an HBO series. She caused a stir two years ago when she attended a meeting of the Granbury Independent School Board and condemned conservatives who “rant and rave” about banning books on sexuality and LGBTQ+ themes. Her subsequent video post has been viewed millions of times.
Once underestimated by her enemies, Martin, a self-appointed watchdog tuned into the plots and players in a small, gossipy community, has found that her message is radiating beyond the fields and steeples of Hood County.
“I get furious about an injustice that happens to someone else,” said Martin, 46. “It’s a kind of a curse, to be honest.”
Martin, right, speaks during a Texas Democratic Women of Hood County meeting at Spring Creek Barbecue in Granbury.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
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Martin was born and raised in Texas. She is intimate with its maps and vernaculars, and the way summer settles hard on the north-central plains along the Brazos River south of Horseshoe Bend near Granbury. But even a provocateur with polished nails and the best intentions — “I want to make this town a more friendly and inclusive place” — has to navigate the fissures and divisions in a time of cultural unease, religious fervor and battles over the nation’s identity.
She marshals the allure and immediacy of Instagram and TikTok with ease. She often appears in videos wearing big earrings, blond hair brushed to the side and falling long, inviting her followers into the confidences of a politically astute beautician. She offers advice on cropped-flair jeans, secrets about evangelical wives who hate their husbands, and warnings against the antiabortion movement. Her following — 50,000 on TikTok, 11,000 on X and 4,169 on Instagram — is not huge, but she knows the back roads and the fairways and has a widening degree of influence.
Dusk over the Brazos River in Granbury, Texas. “I want to make this town a more friendly and inclusive place,” Martin says.
“You can change society if you have a message, even if you’re part of a small community. But you have to watch your politics. Watch what you say,” said Martin, the elected chair of the Democratic Party of Hood County, who once described herself on X as a “Locally hated/Dyslexic Hairstylist.”
“This is Texas,” she aded. “Everybody is armed, so there’s always that in your mind. We have relatives we have conflicts with. Friendships have ended. ‘Oh,’ people will say, ‘She’s that Democrat bitch.’ My husband gets anxious when I go places.”
“I support everything Adrienne does,” said her husband, a native of Granbury who asked not to be named. The couple met more than 18 years ago on MySpace. “My head’s on a swivel whenever she goes out. I’m looking here, looking there, to protect her. You never know when someone will do something stupid.”
Martin has two children, six cats and a dog. She drives around in a golf cart to neighborhood garage sales. Her playlist ranges from Elvis to the Beastie Boys. Her social media posts, even those that nod to fashion and accessories, are authentic takes on life by a woman who is at once unabashed and earnest, a progressive who understands her gravity in the scheme of things. She hopes her 14-year-old son makes the basketball team and has posted angrily about a woman abandoning cats in a parking lot.
“I have everything in my phone,” she said the other day over coffee while scrolling for the town’s latest transgression, sitting in a cafe where eyes take notice when she enters. Even amid political furies, Martin, who looks like she stepped off the set of “The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills,” appears more amused than startled, speaking in the low, accented voice of a woman paging through a family scrapbook, pointing out histories and disappointments. “It’s amazing what I’ve been able to get away with.”
Martin made the news after her Instagram posts on Texas’ confusing voter registration process went viral.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Martin became active in politics years ago when a family member was denied medical insurance for a pre-existing condition. Many here see her as the embodiment of an America undergoing a cultural shift that threatens the heritage and political sensibilities of an old frontier town disquieted by changing times and suspicious of alternative lifestyles. A confidant to her gay friends since high school, Martin started Granbury for All, an LGBTQ+ support group that has about 300 members.
When even the most hardened political observers are becoming jaded, Martin, who does have her cynical days, is fascinated by the intricacies of power. She’s become an expert on the maneuverings in the state capitol, and she made the TV news in Austin recently after her Instagram posts on Texas’ confusing voter registration process went viral. Martin criticized the Texas secretary of state’s office, which suggested that prospective voters who had filled out an electronic form and hit submit were successfully registered. They were not. The form had to be printed and mailed into a registrar’s office.
“This is a voter suppression trick,” Martin posted on Instagram, noting that Republican lawmakers have long opposed online registration. Days later, the state updated its website to make the process clearer. It was a rare win and Martin was ecstatic. She posted a follow-up video, saying, “Oh, my God look at this. . .Victory.”
Austin Odgers fishes with his sons Liam, 3, and Wyatt, 6, right, in Granbury.
Much of Martin’s furor has been directed at the Granbury Independent School District, which was investigated by the U.S. Department of Education after it removed LGBTQ+-themed books from its shelves. The board had targeted more than 100 books to be purged but only about eight were eliminated. Martin criticized Christian right-wing residents, some of whom have no children in school, for pressuring the district to limit access to gender and racial topics. At a 2023 school board meeting, she used the word “weird” to describe MAGA Republicans before vice presidential candidate Tim Walz turned it into a meme.
“Some community members have developed an unhealthy obsession with book banning,” she said at the meeting, suggesting that those calling for bans wanted to “prove [their] righteousness so that [they] can bring down the school district. Is that for the kids? Why the obsession with finding these books? Why is that your fantasy? It’s weird.”
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Martin grew up in the Dallas suburb of Grand Prairie. The daughter of a business manager and a teacher, she has been a belly dancer at a hookah bar and a “promo-girl” for a liquor distributor. She moved to Los Angeles when she was 18 to study at the Joe Blasco Makeup Artist Training Center. She returned to Texas months later and worked on TV commercials and independent movies before moving to Granbury, which she describes as “a little place” with a racist tinge (”the N-word is rampant”) where the far-right Republicans have become “chaos agents. Deconstructionists. They’re so friggin negative it’s exhausting.”
Conservatives either get riled by Martin or pay her no mind. She is harassed online. She’s been called a “whore” and a groomer; someone threatened to burn down her house. Steve Biggers, former chair of the Hood County Republican Party, said, “God bless Adrienne, although we disagree on just about everything.” Another former Republican official said: “She can be very radical, but she’s in such a vast minority that people ignore her.”
“Republicans don’t like Adrienne at all. She gets in their face,” said Sherry Johnson, a retired teacher and president of the Texas Democratic Women of Hood County, which has about 70 members. “Adrienne has come into her own. She’s a force that got Democrats involved again. I remember when she became party chair. She was a young woman. Inexperienced. She was nervous about public speaking. That’s all changed. She’s a rock star.”
Linda Peacock checks in for a Texas Democratic Women of Hood County meeting in Granbury.
A vastly outnumbered Democrat, whose progressiveness confounds even some in her own party, Martin keeps her gaze on the infighting between far-right and traditional Republicans. Her phone often glows with backbiting messages from Republican factions going after one another, notably in a recent intraparty skirmish over the appointment of a district clerk, which led to name-calling and a lawsuit. She follows the social media pages of both wings and occasionally supports traditional Republicans in key races.
“It’s more effective for Democrats and moderate Republicans to work together,” said Martin, who recently attended a local campaign kickoff for traditional Republican candidates, including a school board member who betrayed the far-right by opposing wide-scale book banning. “This is Granbury. You have to take a small win over nothing at all. The far-right wins on low-information voters. Just like Trump.”
Martin carries Harris-Walz signs for others to post.
Her adopted home has a rural charm with a well-swept downtown visited on weekends by people from Dallas and Fort Worth. Granbury, which is overwhelmingly white, has become a popular retirement community with gated neighborhoods and second homes on the lake. It is the seat of Hood County, where rodeos and “cowboy tourism” are popular and preachers conflate Bible parables and politics. Jesus and Trump — who carried the county by 81% of the vote in 2020 — are often spoken in the same breath.
The town has a reverence for the past and a fascination for the slightly odd, including a museum with more than 6,000 dolls dating back to 1868. Banners with photos of veterans and dead soldiers peer over sidewalks and legend has it that Jesse James lived here in an age of stagecoaches and outlaws. A frontier attitude brims among older folks, some of whose grandchildren are homeschooled and whose enmity toward the government runs deep. Many here want to keep Granbury as it was, as if nostalgia, both real and invented, lay claim to the future.
“It was once a small town and now it’s one of the fastest growing counties in the U.S.,” said Jim Cato, who works with Martin on Granbury for All. In 2015, he and his partner were denied a license for a same-sex marriage by an ultraconservative county clerk, resulting in a lawsuit and settlement that ultimately granted the license. “The Hispanic population is increasing. People here are threatened by anyone who is not white, straight and Christian,” said Cato, adding, “diversity is coming.”
The sun sets behind a set of three crosses outside a church in Granbury.
Martin challenged that sensibility two years ago. On July 4, the same week her Democratic Party parade float was decorated with rainbow banners, which received boos and jeers from some, the cast from the HBO drag queen series “We’re Here” appeared in town. The series is a gender-fluid travelog that visits American communities and stages drag shows. It landed in Granbury after the school district made national news over book banning.
Much of the town’s reaction was predictable: “Big city evil has been slithering into Granbury,” said one post on social media. Martin saw an opportunity to educate. Her politics and support of the LGBTQ+ community led to her being featured on the show, including the drag queen performance in which she dressed like Barbie and slipped on a plumed-out pink wig. She was in tears at the end. In a town less accepting than many, she had stood with those at the edges and found, for a moment, while her husband clapped, couples danced and a disco ball glittered, righteous exhilaration in a billiard hall.
Martin takes a break at the Four Thirteen Salon in Granbury.
“Things like racism and transphobia piss me off,” said Martin, who has a biracial nephew. “My mom said I was always like that. I didn’t go to college and it took me awhile — years — to build up confidence. But you don’t have to be educated to get people to listen to you. I followed a need. I started thinking, ‘I’m good at this. I can help people.’ ” She added: “I know I’m privileged too. I’m a white, blond mom.”
That comes with its own liabilities. She said she has grown accustomed to sexism, including from men in her own party, one of whom refused to give her a key to the Democrats’ headquarters. A joke about oral sex was once told in her company by a fellow party member. Men have critiqued her videos on production and grammar, and one party man decided to write a newspaper column for her, believing she wasn’t up to the task. She turned him down and composed her own. “It was impacting how I did my job at the beginning,” she said. “Now, it’s just a nuisance.”
The county, she said, can be confounding. She drove the curved road the other day to the DeCordova Bend Country Club, which overlooks Lake Granbury. The air was calm and boats glimmered far off. “People think we’re ass-backward rednecks, but that’s not true,” said Martin, who ordered a salad and kissed her husband before his round of golf. “There’s good people here.” She added, though, that conservative agendas like the county clerk denying a marriage license to a gay couple in 2015, “start in Granbury and then spread.”
She looked across the dining room. Big windows shone in the noon light. A few men in from the fairways drank beer at a nearby table. Her phone hummed with messages. She has learned when to respond and when not; she knows the eccentricities and calibrations at play. “Two extremist candidates for the school board lost in the last election,” she said. “The Democrats helped make that happen by joining with the moderate Republicans for a common cause. That’s a win, no matter whether we’re in power or not. I like the fight. It gets me passionate.”
Adrienne Martin, left, recites the Pledge of Allegiance.
(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)
Martin doesn’t mind silences, where a glance will often reveal more about a person’s politics than a raft of chatter, but she’s busy and likes to keep things moving. She recalled the most recent Fourth of July town parade when she waved from the Democrats’ float. She watched the cheerleaders and the veterans, the posse of sheriff’s deputies and the firetrucks, the passing faces in the crowd. A kid stood among them. The kid didn’t clap or yell, but she saw a shudder of recognition across his face, a slight smile of solidarity for LGBTQ+ rights, perhaps, she said, on the road to a town’s acceptance.
Politics
Fred Harris, former Democratic senator from Oklahoma and presidential candidate, dies at 94
Fred Harris, a self-described populist Democrat from Oklahoma who served eight years in the U.S. Senate before an unsuccessful campaign for president in 1976, has died. He was 94.
Harris’ wife, Margaret Elliston, confirmed his death to the Associated Press in a text message on Saturday, writing: “Fred Harris passed peacefully early this morning of natural causes. He was 94. He was a wonderful and beloved man. His memory is a blessing.”
Harris, who was living in New Mexico, died in a hospital in Albuquerque, Elliston told The New York Times.
Harris first served for eight years in the Oklahoma State Senate after winning election in 1956. He then launched his career in national politics in 1964 when he won a Senate race to fill the vacancy left by Sen. Robert S. Kerr, who died in January 1963.
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Sen. Fred R. Harris, D-Okla., holds a copy of the report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders as he and two other members of the commission discuss the study on the television-radio program “Issues and Answers,” in Washington, March 3, 1968. (AP Photo/Bob Daugherty, File)
“I’ve always called myself a populist or progressive,” Harris said in a 1998 interview. “I’m against concentrated power. I don’t like the power of money in politics. I think we ought to have programs for the middle class and working class.”
As a U.S. senator, Harris was a member of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, the so-called Kerner Commission, appointed by then-President Lyndon Johnson to investigate the urban riots of the late 1960s.
Sen. Fred Harris of Oklahoma served in the U.S. Senate for eight years. (AP Photo, File)
The commission released its report in 1968, declaring, “our nation is moving toward two societies, one black, one white — separate and unequal.”
Thirty years later, Harris co-wrote a report that concluded the commission’s “prophecy has come to pass,” stating that “the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer and minorities are suffering disproportionately.”
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In 1976, Harris ran a failed bid to earn the Democratic presidential nomination, bowing out of the race after poor showings in early contests. The more moderate Jimmy Carter went on to win the presidency.
Harris moved to New Mexico that year and became a political science professor at the University of New Mexico. He wrote and edited more than a dozen books, mostly on politics and Congress. In 1999, he broadened his writings with a mystery set in Depression-era Oklahoma.
Former Oklahoma Sen. Fred Harris stands outside his Corrales, N.M., home, Friday, July 23, 2004. Harris died Saturday at a hospital in Albuquerque, his wife said. He was 94. (AP Photo/Jake Schoellkopf, File)
Harris was born Nov. 13, 1930, in a two-room farmhouse near Walters, in southwestern Oklahoma. The home had no electricity, indoor toilet or running water. He worked on the farm starting at age 5, driving a horse in circles to supply a hay bailer with power – earning 10 cents a day.
He later worked part-time as a janitor and printer’s assistant to help pay for his education at the University of Oklahoma, where he earned a law degree in 1954. He practiced law in Lawton before beginning his career in politics.
Harris married his high school sweetheart, LaDonna Vita Crawford, in 1949, and had three children, Kathryn, Byron and Laura. After the couple divorced, Harris married Margaret Elliston in 1983.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Donald Trump had the right idea about education during his first administration: Judge potential employees by their skills and experience, not their degrees. Open up a world of bright futures to people who don’t have a bachelor’s degree but crave training and work hard.
In fact, aside from starting up Operation Warp Speed to accelerate the development of a COVID-19 vaccine, Trump’s most worthwhile official act was probably signing the rule that federal jobs should not require a bachelor’s degree unless it’s really needed.
Trump and other Republicans saw that the education vision President Obama had pushed — consisting of a vague Common Core public school curriculum followed by “college for all” — had alienated working-class Americans. Well-paid manufacturing jobs had all but disappeared, and people were looking for a new middle-class future.
The growth of tech indicated to Obama’s education advisors that success would depend on a university education, preferably in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, fields. But that wasn’t a message that many working-class people wanted to hear. It struck them as an elitist judgment that they’re nothing without a four-year degree.
Obama was right to some extent: The greatest growth in well-paid jobs will be among those that require a college degree. But Trump was right too: 45% of those holding a bachelor’s are underemployed even a decade after they graduate, working in jobs that don’t require a degree, and 28% of people with a two-year associate’s degree earn more than the average four-year-college graduate. More than a third of college students, meanwhile, don’t complete a degree within six years, and almost none of those students ever finish their education.
The problem is that high schools have become so college-focused that students who don’t plan on higher education usually get little to no guidance on what careers they might consider, according to a recent Gallup poll. There is a wide and rapidly expanding variety of possibilities.
So although Trump’s opening of federal jobs to more people without degrees was a start, schools can do far more to prepare young people to be both citizens and members of the workforce. That would be a far more productive path for Trump to take on education during his second administration than the issues he’s been batting around lately — especially because he will have some trouble realizing his ambitions even with a compliant Congress.
Shutting the U.S. Education Department, as the president-elect has threatened to do, would require congressional approval, and eliminating a Cabinet-level agency would be tough to get past even some Republican lawmakers. Its responsibilities could be returned to the Interior Department — where they originated before the Education Department was created, in 1979 — but what would be the point? The laws requiring equal treatment of girls and women in education would still have to be administered; college financial aid applications would still have to be processed; Pell Grants and student loans would still have to be overseen. No matter where the necessary personnel are placed, the work would need to be done.
Even as Trump vows to get the federal government out of the schools — though really, now that the No Child Left Behind Act is dead and gone, the Education Department does little to interfere with public education — he wants to meddle more by pulling funding from any schools that teach about LGBTQ+ issues or “critical race theory.” While these subjects make for provocative talking points, they’re not a major part of learning in most districts. These are decisions to be made at the state and local levels, and voters who don’t like what their school board decides can throw its members out at the next election. They very rarely do so.
Another pillar of Trump’s platform, school choice, appears to be facing public resistance. All three statewide votes on the subject this fall went against choice, two of them in conservative states. Nebraska voters overturned an earlier state decision to spend taxpayer dollars to enable parents to send their children to private schools. Parents rely on and support their local schools more than elected Republicans might understand.
Trump tends to favor disruption over constructive policymaking, but he has already made non-college pathways a signature education statement, and the idea has become popular with both parties. Now is the perfect time to take advantage of that. His administration could use corporate tax credits and public-private partnerships to help create apprenticeships, landing young people in white-collar jobs with a future, as Switzerland has done for years. Instead of deconstructing education, his education appointees could rebuild it through more relevant and exciting curricula with practical applications.
The president-elect’s pick for Education secretary, former pro wrestling executive Linda McMahon, has so far remained quiet about her priorities, though vouchers are likely to be among them. But just before her appointment was announced, she praised Switzerland’s system of white-collar apprenticeships for high school students, which lead to executive and professional jobs. I’ve long thought the United States should emulate the model; a small but very successful program in Denver does so.
Both Presidents George W. Bush and Obama saw education as an important part of their administrations but stumbled on the issue because of sometimes harsh and unrealistic policies. No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top ultimately did very little to improve learning, excite students or close achievement gaps. Trump has a chance to build on what he has already said he believes and become a true education president.
President-elect Trump has rounded out his picks for the top 15 positions within his Cabinet, handpicking an array of establishment and unconventional officials for top posts in just three weeks.
Trump has moved at a rapid pace to shape his upcoming administration, which stands in contrast to his first run at the presidency in 2016.
The president-elect’s picks have diverse ideologies united under Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement.
From Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s pro-choice stance to Oregon Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer’s pro-union stance and former George Soros adviser Scott Bessent, Trump’s Cabinet reflects a new era for Republican presidents.
GET TO KNOW DONALD TRUMP’S CABINET: WHO HAS THE PRESIDENT-ELECT PICKED SO FAR?
Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. waves to the crowd at a campaign rally for former President Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, Aug. 23, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
1. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. – Secretary of Health and Human Services
Kennedy, a former Democrat, has been open about his pro-choice stance, much to the chagrin of conservative Republicans.
The former presidential candidate shared a video on social media this summer, writing in a post, “I support the emerging consensus that abortion should be unrestricted up until a certain point.”
He suggested that this limit should be “when the baby is viable outside the womb.” Viability is understood to occur around 24 weeks gestation.
Kennedy will likely be asked in his upcoming hearing the extent of his pro-choice stance. Several Republicans are wary of Trump’s pick for HHS, while others expressed confidence he would act in line with the administration.
“I would fully expect any of Trump’s nominees to be pro-life, as is President Trump,” Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., told Fox News Digital. “It does need to be addressed.”
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“I believe what he’s going to do is do the right thing,” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said of Kennedy.
Trump’s softening stance toward abortion was a notable point during his campaign. Trump has said he would leave abortion to the states after of Roe v. Wade was overturned.
Trump notably opposes a federal abortion ban but has remained opposed to late-term abortions. In July, the Republican Party abandoned its long-standing position of advocating for abortions.
Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer, R-Ore., participates in a House Transportation Committee hearing June 27. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
2. Lori Chavez-DeRemer – Labor Secretary
Chavez-DeRemer’s nomination received strong support from unions, which once stood at odds with Republican ideology.
The president-elect lauded her for working “tirelessly with both Business and Labor to build America’s workforce, and support the hardworking men and women of America.”
“I look forward to working with her to create tremendous opportunity for American Workers, to expand Training and Apprenticeships, to grow wages and improve working conditions, to bring back our Manufacturing jobs,” Trump said in an Friday announcement.
During her short stint as a House Republican, Chavez-DeRemer championed labor rights. She co-sponsored the Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which increased penalties for employers who break labor law and makes it easier to unionize. She also co-sponsored the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act, which would expand the powers of public sector unions.
Her candidacy for the post was backed by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters union, whose president thanked Trump for the pro-labor pick.
“North America’s strongest union is ready to work with you every step of the way to expand good union jobs and rebuild our nation’s middle class,” Teamsters President Sean O’Brien wrote on X. “Let’s get to work!”
Similarly, AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler praised Chavez-DeRemer for having “built a pro-labor record in Congress.”
“But Donald Trump is the president-elect of the United States — not Rep. Chavez-DeRemer — and it remains to be seen what she will be permitted to do as secretary of labor in an administration with a dramatically anti-worker agenda,” Shuler said.
Scott Bessent, founder and CEO of Key Square Group LP, at an interview during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee July 16. (Vincent Alban/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
3. Scott Bessent – Treasury Secretary
President-elect Trump nominated Bessent as his top economic official to implement “Trumponomics.”
Bessent made a name for himself at Soros Capital Management, where he worked as chief investment officer from 2011 to 2015. Following his work with Soros, he founded hedge fund Key Square Capital Management and was a key economic policy adviser and fundraiser for the Trump campaign.
He has been an advocate for economic policies like lower taxes, spending restraint and deregulation that have long made up the core of the Republican Party’s platform and has been supportive of Trump’s use of tariffs in trade negotiations.
In a statement, Consumer Bankers Association President and CEO Lindsey Johnson congratulated Bessent on the nomination.
“As an experienced and accomplished businessman, we applaud Mr. Bessent’s recent comments in which he has called for a surge in small business optimism, a smart deregulatory banking agenda and support for Main Street,” Johnson said.
“If confirmed, we look forward to working with Mr. Bessent to advocate for sound financial regulatory policy that enable banks to better support consumers, small businesses and the economy at large.”
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
4. Marco Rubio – Secretary of State
As America’s top diplomat, Rubio was plucked from his Senate term in Florida to serve in Trump’s upcoming administration.
Rubio, a former critic of Trump, has supported strong relations with foreign alliances, including NATO, advocating for a robust U.S. presence in the world. He has also publicly supported Israel’s war against Hamas and spoken out against continued aid to Ukraine.
“It is my Great Honor to announce that Senator Marco Rubio, of Florida, is hereby nominated to be The United States Secretary of State. Marco is a Highly Respected Leader, and a very powerful Voice for Freedom,” Trump said in a statement. “He will be a strong Advocate for our Nation, a true friend to our Allies, and a fearless Warrior who will never back down to our adversaries.”
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In a statement, Rubio, 53, said he was “honored” by the trust Trump “has placed in me.”
“As Secretary of State, I will work every day to carry out his foreign policy agenda,” Rubio wrote on X. “Under the leadership of President Trump we will deliver peace through strength and always put the interests of Americans and America above all else.”
WATCH:
5. Pete Hegseth – Secretary of Defense
A combat veteran and former Fox News host, Hegseth was picked as the senior executive in the Department of Defense, which oversees the U.S. military and Pentagon.
Hegseth, who served as an Army infantryman in Iraq and Afghanistan as a member of the Minnesota National Guard, has been a vocal critic of the Biden administration’s national security approach.
Hegseth has been under increased scrutiny after former Rep. Matt Gaetz’s decision to drop out following sexual misconduct allegations. Hegseth is also facing sexual misconduct allegations from a 2017 encounter. Scrutiny increased late Wednesday night after police in Monterey, California, released a report about the allegations.
“The matter was fully investigated, and I was completely cleared,” Hegseth told reporters on Capitol Hill Thursday. Through his attorney, he has also acknowledged the sexual encounter but has said it was consensual.
Former Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi addresses the Republican National Convention in 2020. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
6. Pam Bondi – Attorney General
Following Gaetz’s removal from consideration for the nation’s top cop, Trump chose Bondi as his attorney general pick.
Bondi, a former Florida attorney general, was named by Trump hours after Gaetz withdrew. Bondi is a longtime Trump supporter who served on his legal team during his impeachment trial.
“For too long, the partisan Department of Justice has been weaponized against me and other Republicans – Not anymore,” Trump wrote in his announcement. “Pam will refocus the DOJ to its intended purpose of fighting Crime, and Making America Safe Again.
“I have known Pam for many years – She is smart and tough, and is an AMERICA FIRST Fighter, who will do a terrific job as Attorney General!”
WATCH:
7. Doug Burgum – Secretary of the Interior
North Dakota Gov. Burgum, a staunch advocate of expanded fossil fuel production, was picked as Trump’s secretary of the interior. Trump also named him to the newly created “energy czar” position.
Burgum has been an ally of Trump since he suspended his own presidential campaign. Burgum made energy and natural resources a key part of his campaign for the GOP nomination.
The president-elect said in a statement the newly formed National Energy Council “will oversee the path to U.S. ENERGY DOMINANCE by cutting red tape, enhancing private sector investments across all sectors of the Economy, and by focusing on INNOVATION over longstanding, but totally unnecessary, regulation.”
Brooke Rollins, president and CEO of AFPI, during the America First Policy Institute’s America First Agenda Summit in 2022. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
8. Brooke Rollins – Agriculture Secretary
Rollins, who grew up on a farm in Glen Rose, Texas, was a surprise pick for the position. Others, including former Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., were floated as top contenders.
Rollins served as director of the Office of American Innovation and acting director of the Domestic Policy Council during the first Trump administration. Since her time in the Trump White House, Rollins co-founded the pro-Trump America First Policy Institute think tank.
“A proud Graduate of Texas A&M University, Brooke earned a Bachelor’s of Science Degree in Agriculture Development, and J.D., with Honors,” the announcement said. “From her upbringing in the small and Agriculture-centered town of Glen Rose, Texas, to her years of leadership involvement with Future Farmers of America and 4H, to her generational Family Farming background, to guiding her four kids in their show cattle careers, Brooke has a practitioner’s experience, along with deep Policy credentials in both Nonprofit and Government leadership at the State and National levels.”
Howard Lutnick, chairman and CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald and co-chair of the Trump 2024 Transition Team, speaks during a campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in New York Oct. 17. (Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images)
9. Howard Lutnick – Commerce Secretary
Lutnick, 63, has served as the co-chair of Trump’s transition team and was a key fundraiser for Trump’s 2020 and 2024 campaigns.
“I am thrilled to announce that Howard Lutnick, Chairman & CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, will join my Administration as the United States Secretary of Commerce,” Trump said in a statement. “He will lead our Tariff and Trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative.”
The Commerce Department plays a key role in regulating international trade with the U.S. as well as promoting economic growth domestically.
There are several notable bureaus within the Commerce Department, including the Census Bureau, the Bureau of Economic Analysis and the Bureau of Industry and Security, which work on issues related to national security and sensitive technologies by enforcing export controls and promoting the health of the U.S. defense industrial base.
Scott Turner at the America First Policy Institute’s America First Agenda summit in Washington, D.C., in 2022. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
10. Scott Turner – Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development
Turner, 52, Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development, is a former NFL player.
He served in Trump’s first administration as executive director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council.
“Scott is an NFL Veteran, who, during my First Term, served as the First Executive Director of the White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council (WHORC), helping to lead an Unprecedented Effort that Transformed our Country’s most distressed communities,” Trump said in a statement Friday.
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11. Sean Duffy – Secretary of Transportation
Duffy is a former Wisconsin congressman and former Fox News contributor and FOX Business co-host.
“Sean has been a tremendous and well-liked public servant, starting his career as a District Attorney for Ashland, Wisconsin, and later elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District,” Trump said in his announcement Monday.
“Sean will use his experience and the relationships he has built over many years in Congress to maintain and rebuild our Nation’s Infrastructure, and fulfill our Mission of ushering in The Golden Age of Travel, focusing on Safety, Efficiency, and Innovation. Importantly, he will greatly elevate the Travel Experience for all Americans!”
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Shortly after the announcement, a spokesperson for Fox News Media released the following statement: “Sean Duffy provided valuable insights and analysis in co-hosting the FOX Business Network program ‘The Bottom Line.’ As Duffy departs FOX News Media effective today, we wish him the best of luck in his return to Washington. Moving forward, ‘The Bottom Line’ will continue with Dagen McDowell joined by rotating co-hosts.”
Liberty Oilfield Services Inc. CEO Chris Wright, center, on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. (Reuters)
12. Chris Wright – Secretary of Energy
Wright, the CEO and founder of Liberty Energy, will lead the Department of Energy.
“I am thrilled to announce that Chris Wright will be joining my Administration as both United States Secretary of Energy, and Member of the newly formed Council of National Energy,” Trump said in a statement.
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According to Liberty Energy’s website, Wright graduated from MIT with a degree in mechanical engineering. He also completed graduate work in electrical engineering at the University of California, Berkeley and MIT.
“[Wright] is a self-described tech nerd turned entrepreneur and a dedicated humanitarian on a mission to better human lives by expanding access to abundant, affordable, and reliable energy,” the company’s website says.
The key Cabinet position announcement comes after Trump made energy independence and bolstering oil and gas production a cornerstone of his campaign.
President Trump shakes hands with Linda McMahon, the outgoing administrator of the Small Business Administration, March 29, 2019. (Reuters/Joshua Roberts)
13. Linda McMahon – Secretary of Education
McMahon serves as co-chair of Trump’s transition team and is a major GOP donor and a retired World Wrestling Entertainment executive.
Clips of McMahon’s body slams have resurfaced across social media in the days since the announcement of her appointment.
McMahon served on the Connecticut Board of Education for a year starting in 2009. She told lawmakers at the time she had a lifelong interest in education and once planned to become a teacher. She attempted two runs at the Senate as a Connecticut Republican, losing the 2010 race to Richard Blumenthal and the 2012 race to Chris Murphy.
McMahon then provided $6 million to help Trump’s candidacy after he secured the Republican presidential nomination in 2016. She served as administrator of the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term from 2017 to 2019.
Rep. Doug Collins, R-Ga., speaks during a campaign event in Buford, Ga., in 2020. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
14. Douglas Collins – Secretary of Veterans Affairs
Former Rep. Collins, R-Ga., is an Air Force Reserve chaplain.
Collins, 58, last ran for office in 2020 when he vied for a Georgia Senate seat and served two years as a Navy chaplain before joining the Air Force as a chaplain after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
Trump praised Collins in the appointment announcement, saying he would be a “great advocate for active-duty service members, veterans and military families to ensure they have the support they need.”
“We must take care of our brave men and women in uniform,” Trump said. “Thank you, Doug, for your willingness to serve our country in this important role.”
Former President Trump listens as South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem speaks during the Buckeye Values PAC Rally in Vandalia, Ohio, March 16. (Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images)
15. Kristi Noem – Homeland Secretary
Noem, who has served as South Dakota’s governor since 2019, has been a staunch Trump ally throughout his campaigns.
The Department of Homeland Security oversees U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Secret Service and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
If selected, Noem would work with Tom Homan, who was announced as Trump’s “border czar,” and Stephen Miller, who was announced as the White House deputy of staff for policy.
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