President-elect Trump announced on Tuesday that he will nominate Linda McMahon to serve as secretary of the Education Department on Tuesday.
McMahon is co-leading Trump’s transition team. She was considered a front-runner to lead the Department of Commerce and her co-lead on the transition team, Howard Lutnick, is expected to be named for that role.
McMahon previously led the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term.
“As Secretary of Education, Linda will fight tirelessly to expand ‘Choice’ to every State in America, and empower parents to make the best Education decisions for their families,” Trump said in a statement.
The nominee will have big shoes to fill as Trump has laid out multiple plans for the agency, including abolishing it.
The lead of the Department of Education will also be tasked with changing the definition of Title IX again after Biden amended it to include discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, a move that was highly criticized by Republicans and numerous states sued.
McMahon was named in a lawsuit last month along with her husband, Vince McMahon, accusing World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) leaders of allowing years of sexual abuse of young boys by a ringside announcer. She co-founded WWE with her husband and left in 2009 to run for a Senate seat in Connecticut.
