STILWELL, OK
Here’s everything you need to know about Senator Markwayne Mullin as he prepares to face the challenging process of official confirmation as the head of DHS.
Release Date
03/18/2026
Mullin is a native of Oklahoma and a member of the Cherokee Nation. His name is a combination of his two maternal uncles’ names; his mother intended to shorten it, but it stuck. Notably, Mullin is the only member of Congress without a bachelor’s degree, though he did earn a technical degree from the Oklahoma State University Institute of Technology. Before running for public office, Mullin managed the family plumbing business, hosted a syndicated radio show about home improvement, and established himself as a successful businessman in the state.
Mullin first ran for Congress in 2012, competing for Oklahoma’s 2nd District to replace outgoing Democratic Representative Dan Boren. Presenting himself as an outsider, emphasizing his profile as a successful businessman, Mullin managed to wrest control of the traditionally Democratic district and hold it for a full decade (despite promising his constituents he would only serve three terms).
The rise of the MAGA movement led Mullin to transform much of his political profile to resemble Trump’s, and in 2023 he managed to defeat a large field of Republican candidates to replace former Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe.
It’s uncertain, to put it mildly. Mullin doesn’t appear to have much experience in any of the areas that fall under the purview of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). He has no experience in law enforcement or in humanitarian disaster relief (DHS oversees FEMA). The Trump administration and other Republicans who praised Trump’s decision to appoint Mullin have lauded him for his tough stance on the border, but he has never served on a congressional committee focused on immigration. Mullin’s primary qualification appears to be his unwavering loyalty to Trump’s agenda and his willingness to obey his orders—that’s all the president cares about.
Like many of his colleagues on Capitol Hill, Mullin has amassed millions through highly profitable stock market investments. According to analyses by several financial firms that monitor public congressional financial data, Mullin is one of the most prolific and profitable traders in both chambers. According to his financial disclosures to Congress, his net worth, which ranged from $3 million to $9 million in 2012, soared to between $29 million and $97 million by 2024.
Mullin’s portfolio attracted attention earlier this year when he invested a portion of a $2.8 million stock package in Chevron just days before the Trump administration launched an operation to arrest Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and seize control of the country’s oil production. Chevron, the only U.S. oil company operating in Venezuela, saw its valuation skyrocket after the deal.
Mullin faced criticism from constituents and fellow legislators in 2017 after he publicly rejected the idea of taxpayers funding his salary. “You say I get paid to do this? What a load of rubbish!” Mullin said during a public event in Jay, Oklahoma. “I pay myself. I paid enough taxes before I got here, and I continue to do so through my company, to pay my own salary. This is a service. Nobody here pays me to go.” Taxpayers pay Mullin an annual salary of $174,000 for his service in the Senate.
In 2017, a company owned by then-U.S. Congressman Markwayne Mullin paid $99,000 for a half-acre vacant lot next to the highway that runs through Stilwell, a small town in far eastern Oklahoma, near Mullin’s hometown.
Then, in 2020, the Mullin family built a two-story restaurant on the property, serving a menu of home-style country food, as well as a coffee shop and freshly baked goods. The restaurant operated for only four years, closing its doors in 2024. Approximately one week after the restaurant closed, Mullin found a buyer: the Cherokee Nation purchased the entire property for $1.5 million, which at the time was about $700,000 above its assessed value. The reasons for such a high sale price, especially with a restaurant already built on the property, are unknown. But this points to one of the many ways Mullin has dramatically increased his fortune since joining Congress in 2013. The sale of land to the Cherokee Nation was one of several significant financial gains Mullin made that year, and he reported earning at least $9 million in 2014.
Mullin, who was recently nominated by President Donald Trump to become the next Secretary of Homeland Security, will likely face questions about his financial transactions during a confirmation hearing that begins Wednesday, March 18.
If confirmed, Mullin will leave his current position as a junior senator from Oklahoma.
Through a combination of stock trading, real estate investments, and the sale of large assets, Mullin’s net worth has grown exponentially since he became a public official, raising questions among ethics experts.
Trading in the stock market while serving as a member of Congress creates a conflict of interest, said Donald Sherman, president of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
“Unlike federal judges or most executive branch employees, members of Congress cannot easily recuse themselves in matters where they have these types of conflicts of interest, as that would deny their constituents representation in Congress,” Sherman told The Oklahoman.
Markwayne Mullin’s net worth includes stocks and property. Mullin’s most recent annual financial disclosure to the U.S. Senate shows that the assets of Mullin and his immediate family could be as high as $96.7 million or as low as $29.2 million.
An independent analysis of Mullin’s net worth, conducted by the research firm Quiver Quantitative, suggests that Mullin and his immediate family could have an estimated net worth of $66 million in 2026, based on financial disclosures and stock purchase reports.
This is a far cry from the assets listed in his first financial disclosure in 2013, when he began serving as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. In addition to his salary from working at his family’s plumbing business that year, he reported assets worth approximately $3 million to $8 million, primarily consisting of his share of the plumbing business and the family ranch near Westville. (Financial reports do not provide an exact value, only a range.)
Over time, Mullin built a diversified portfolio of individual company stocks, investments in various mutual funds, and multiple properties in Oklahoma, Washington, D.C., Missouri, Florida, and Louisiana. In total, he reported more than 180 assets in his most recent asset declaration, filed in August 2025.
Much of his wealth stems from the sale of his plumbing business in 2021. While details of the transaction were not publicly disclosed, Mullin reportedly transferred between $25 million and $50 million to a cash management account on the day of the sale.
One of his most significant assets was Rowan’s Restaurant, a family-owned establishment in Stilwell, Oklahoma. In February of that year, a week after the restaurant served its last dinner, the Mullin family sold the property to the Cherokee Nation for $1.5 million, according to Adair County property records.
It is one of the largest and newest commercial properties in Stilwell.
Mullin is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. As a nation whose sovereignty is guaranteed by an Act of Congress and which receives partial federal funding, the Cherokee Nation frequently exerts political pressure in Washington, D.C., and has sought to secure its own delegate to Congress, as stipulated by treaty. The tribe also frequently purchases properties within its reservation in northeastern Oklahoma, converting many of these properties into community centers, such as wellness centers.
In 2023, the Cherokee Nation acquired a former supermarket building in another part of Stilwell, investing $448,000 in the land and the 35-year-old structure. The assessed value of that building was $454,360 at the time of the sale.
The Mullin property had an assessed value of $802,612 before its sale. The former restaurant now serves as the headquarters for the Cherokee Nation’s Senior Nutrition Program in Stilwell.
When asked for comment on the site and an explanation of how the $1.5 million purchase price was determined, the tribe’s communications department sent a statement outlining the property’s value:
“The Cherokee Nation acquired a centrally located building in Stilwell to serve as a gathering place that will benefit our senior citizens,” the Cherokee Nation Communications Department wrote in an email to The Oklahoman. “The 557-square-meter former restaurant was outfitted with the necessary facilities to operate as the tribe’s Senior Nutrition Center, which opened in 2025.”
The purchase came as Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. boasted to the Tribal Council that the tribe was investing $1.2 billion in capital to “make a transcendent impact on the Cherokee people.”
Hoskin applauded Mullin’s appointment to the President’s Cabinet and praised his work on behalf of Indigenous communities. “We are confident in Secretary Mullin’s ability to lead with historical responsibility and look forward to the positive and unifying impact his unique perspective will bring to the nation,” Hoskin said in a statement.
Mullin did not respond to The Oklahoman’s request for comment on this article.
Overall, according to the report, Mullin, his wife, and their dependent children earned between $9 million and $28.7 million in 2024.
Mullin has purchased approximately $14.5 million worth of stock since 2023, according to tracking by Quiver Quantitative. During that same period, he sold approximately $9.5 million worth of stock.
Mullin and his team have repeatedly told the press that he does not make individual decisions about his stock trades but uses an independent firm to manage his portfolio on his behalf. This has not prevented scrutiny of some trades that have been reported to the Senate Select Committee on Ethics.
In December, Mullin bought shares of Chevron and Raytheon just days before the United States captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Raytheon is a major U.S. defense contractor with significant contracts with the Department of Defense for missile and defense systems. Chevron is one of the largest private oil companies operating in Venezuela.
Trump claimed that members of Congress were not notified of the raid before it occurred, but those closely following geopolitics knew that a major shift in Venezuela was possible, given that Trump had reinforced his military presence in the Caribbean in the weeks leading up to the raid.
Sherman, president of CREW, the Washington, D.C., ethics watchdog, stated that if members of Congress choose to trade stocks while in office, they must have an established process to ensure full compliance with the law and not delegate responsibility to outside fund managers when questions arise.
“But I think the most important obligation is one that the law has not yet addressed: that members of Congress should not buy, trade, or own stocks, bonds, or other individual assets,” Sherman stated.
Mullin has been criticized for the delay in disclosing his stock purchases. In 2025, he was more than two years late in disclosing seven stock purchases. In 2017, Mullin was questioned about his investment in a little-known pharmaceutical company seeking FDA approval for a new drug; at the time, Mullin was a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health Subcommittee, which wielded considerable influence over the FDA.
By 2026, Mullin had acquired shares worth several hundred thousand dollars in nine companies, according to his most recent reports. These companies represent diverse sectors, including chip manufacturers, financial services, and an online education provider.
