WWE co-founder Linda McMahon was confirmed as the U.S. secretary of education Monday night by a party line vote of 51-45.
Four senators — Republicans Cynthia Lummis and Shelley Moore Capito and Democrats Elissa Slotkin and Peter Welch — missed the vote.
Linda McMahon, President Trump’s nominee to be secretary of Education, testifies before a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Feb. 13, 2025.
Tierney L Cross/Reuters
Moments after being confirmed, McMahon was sworn in at the Department of Education.
In a post on X, McMahon said she intended to “make good” on President Donald Trump’s promises to make U.S. education the best in the world, return education to the states and free students from bureaucracy through school choice.
McMahon, who previously served as the head of the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term, will be tasked with shutting down the federal agency she was confirmed to lead.
At a White House event last month, Trump said, “I told Linda, ‘Linda, I hope you do a great job and put yourself out of a job. I want her to put herself out of a job, Education Department.”
“I want the states to run schools, and I want Linda to put herself out of a job,” Trump added.
Sources told ABC News the president is expected to sign an executive order as soon as this week calling for McMahon to diminish the education department and work with Congress to pass legislation that would eliminate it. The move would fulfill Trump’s campaign promise of returning education back to the states.
The US Department of Education building is seen in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 13, 2025.
Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images
However, Trump’s directive will not stand without congressional approval, according to experts who’ve spoken to ABC News. Any proposed legislation would likely fail without 60 votes in the Senate.
The Trump loyalist and donor acknowledged she needed Congress to carry out the president’s vision.
“We’d like to do this right,” McMahon said during her February confirmation hearing, adding, “that certainly does require congressional action.”
President Donald Trump’s nominee for education secretary Linda McMahon arrives to testify at her nomination hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in Washington, Feb. 13, 2025.
Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
McMahon, 76, earned her teaching certification from East Carolina University. She is a champion of apprenticeship and workforce training programs, school choice, and parental rights.
McMahon also had two stints serving on the Board of Trustees at Sacred Heart University, where she is currently the Treasurer. She served on the Connecticut State Board of Education in 2009.
McMahon co-founded World Wrestling Entertainment with her husband Vince McMahon.
