Could these Oklahomans be heading for cabinet positions under President-Elect Trump?
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — It has already happened once, and political experts say it’s entirely possible one or more Oklahomans could be picked to fill seats in President-Elect Donald Trump’s cabinet for his second term.
There’s no denying: Oklahoma is a red state.
Yet again this year, every county in Oklahoma voted Republican. The only other state to do that was West Virginia.
So, it makes sense that Oklahoma would have plenty of Republican options for the incoming Republican president to pick from when putting together his cabinet.
This week, reports surfaced out of Washington indicating President-Elect Donald Trump may be eyeing Oklahoma U.S. Senator Markwayne Mullin to serve as Secretary of the Interior or Secretary of Veterans Affairs in his new administration.
“I think Mullin has kind of put out the feelers that he's available and he certainly kind of fits the bill in a lot of ways,” said University of Central Oklahoma Political Science Professor, Brett Sharp.
Sharp thinks Mullin would check a lot of boxes for someone like Trump.
“He fits that Trump mold,” Sharp said. “You know, he's just so aggressively masculine.”
Mullin is also a Cherokee Citizen.
Sharp says, if appointed secretary of the interior, Mullin could help ease concerns some tribal leaders in Oklahoma have over what a second Trump presidency would mean for them.
“Mullin would be a voice—I think—that would, you know, talk about the other side and maybe any kind of knee jerk reaction that would go against the tribes—they would rethink it,” Sharp said. “That would be something I think that would be reassuring.”
A spokesperson for Mullin’s office told News 4 on Wednesday, so far “President Donald Trump and Senator Mullin have not spoken about any cabinet positions.”
However, the spokesperson added they will let News 4 know if that changes.
If, hypothetically, Sen. Mullin were to leave his senate seat for a cabinet position, it would be up to Governor Stitt to appoint a temporary replacement to take Mullin’s place in the U.S. Senate until his current term ends in 2026.
After that, things get complicated, because Oklahoma has a state law that effectively would ban the temporarily appointed senator in this scenario from running to keep the seat when their term expires.
“They have to take an oath that they're not going to actually run for the office, when it comes up for real, they're just getting interim appointment,” Sharp said.
Sharp says it’s likely someone could challenge that law as being unconstitutional.
News 4 reached out to Stitt’s office Wednesday to get his thoughts on all these possibilities. Nobody responded.
Mullin is not the only Oklahoma name being tossed around by experts for a possible cabinet role.
This week, a wall street journal report mentioned Oklahoma State Superintendent Ryan Walters as possibly being on the shortlist for Trump’s Secretary of Education.
“From the very beginning he's very Trumpist, you know, Trump-like in a lot of ways,” Sharp said.
With Trump at the helm, Sharp won’t rule out any possibility. But, he thinks the likelihood of Walters landing in Trump’s cabinet, is not extremely high.
“I think a lot of what he does is for show, and just to be kind of in your face with the liberals on a variety of issues,” Sharp said. “My understanding is that Ryan Walters, as Trump-like as he at least aspires to be, is not really well liked in in Trump circles.”
News 4 reached out to Walters’ office to see if he has any thoughts on his name being mentioned in these discussions. Nobody responded.
An Oklahoman heading up a federal agency isn’t unheard of.
It happened during Trump’s first presidency, when he tapped then-Oklahoma attorney general Scott Pruitt to head up the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Pruitt lasted in that role a little more than a year, before resigning amid numerous federal investigations.
“Hopefully if we have a Markwayne Mullin or somebody, it will work out better for everybody,” Sharp said.