President-elect Donald Trump has appointed Sean Duffy as transportation secretary in his future cabinet, tasked with overseeing a complicated system that includes pipelines, railroads, autos, trucks, airlines, mass transit systems, and highway funding.
Here are some things you should know about Duffy.
He is a former Congressman.
Duffy, 53, is an attorney who represented Wisconsin in the House for nine years after being elected as part of the 2010 tea party wave. He served from 2011 until 2019, when he resigned due to a need to care for his large family. Duffy served in the House Financial Services Committee, where he chaired the housing and insurance subcommittee.
Duffy is the second Fox-affiliated host picked by Trump.
Duffy became a Fox News contributor in 2020 and has been one of Trump’s most visible defenders on cable news, which is a major problem for the media-savvy president-elect. He co-hosted “The Bottom Line” on Fox Business until quitting the network on Monday.
Last week, Trump announced Pete Hegseth, a co-host of “Fox and Friends Weekend,” as his choice for defense secretary.
Like Trump, Duffy is a former reality TV star.
Duffy appeared in MTV’s “The Real World: Boston” in 1997. He met his wife, Rachel Campos-Duffy, on the set of MTV’s “Road Rules: All Stars” in 1998. Campos-Duffy co-hosts “Fox & Friends Weekend.”
In Trump’s world, having a background in reality television before entering politics is not unusual. The former and future president appeared on “The Apprentice” before taking office in 2017.
He declined to run for governor of Wisconsin.
Despite Trump’s invitation to run for governor of Wisconsin in 2022, Duffy declined. Duffy stated that he needed to care for his nine children, including his youngest, who had a heart issue.
When he initially stood for Congress, Duffy was widely regarded as an underdog. He gained national recognition for campaign advertising in which he wore a red flannel shirt and cut down trees. He told voters he came from a “long line of lumberjacks” and planned to bring his axe to Washington.
Duffy was a former lumberjack athlete.
