DHS Secretary Nominee and Senator Markwayne Mullin Has a Wife and Six Children

At the same time that Donald Trump announced that Kristi Noem had been relieved of her duties as the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, he also announced that he would be nominating Oklahoma Senator Markwayne Mullin for the role.

Because Mullin was not a national figure prior to this nomination, many people naturally wanted to know more about who he is. Among the things people were curious about was his family life. Here's what we know about Sen. Mullin's wife.

Mullin has been married to his wife Christie since 1997. The two first met when they were still in grade school together, and dated through high school. After high school, they both postponed college so that Markwayne could take over his father's plumbing business after he got sick. They eventually expanded that enterprise to include Mullin Environmental and Rowan’s Steakhouse.

Markwayne and Christie are parents to six children: sons Jim, Jayce, and Andrew, and daughters Larra, Lynette, and Ivy. On the senator's website, he explains that the two of them initially struggled to have children because Christie had endometriosis that went undiagnosed for years. That condition can cause uterine tissue to grow in parts of the body outside of the uterus.

Following a miscarriage, the couple had Jim, and later had Andrew and Larra. The other three children are all adopted. In an interview with Today, Markwayne said that they adopted twins Ivy and Lynette, who were born to a distant cousin of Christie's and were living with her great aunts.

“My wife was loving on the girls. My kids were loving on them. I was sitting there thinking, ‘There’s no way.’ Our life just got turned upside down by me being elected to Congress," he said.

This first encounter happened in 2012, and by 2013, they had started the proceedings to adopt both children. They adopted Jayce in 2017 following the death of his father, but not much more is known about the exact circumstances of that adoption.

What seems clear, though, is that Markwayne and Christie are unafraid of having and supporting a big family, although that family is now starting to leave the house.

The news that Trump had chosen to nominate Mullin for DHS secretary, which is one of the highest-profile roles in his administration because of its focus on immigration, comes after a tumultuous year for Kristi Noem. Noem has been in the spotlight for much of the year, but following the deployment of ICE agents to cities across America, and reporting that suggests that Noem is having an affair and flying on a souped-up jet, she was fired.

Now, Mullin will be tasked with handling one of the most important jobs in Trump's administration. He has been aligned with the president on virtually everything related to immigration, but that doesn't mean he will ultimately be successful in the role.