Trump names former lawmaker and Fox Business host as transportation secretary | US election 2024

The US president-elect says former Wisconsin congressman Sean Duffy will usher in a ‘golden age of travel’.

US President-elect Donald Trump has named a former congressman turned Fox Business host as his choice for transportation secretary.

In a statement announcing the nomination on Monday, Trump described Sean Duffy as a “tremendous and well-liked public servant” who will usher in a “golden age of travel.”

“He will prioritize excellence, competence, competitiveness and beauty as he rebuilds America’s highways, tunnels, bridges and airports,” Trump said.

“He will ensure that our ports and dams serve our economy without compromising our national security, and he will make our skies safe again by eliminating DEI for pilots and air traffic controllers,” Trump added, referring to diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the workplace, which conservatives claim prioritize characteristics such as race and gender over merit and performance.

Duffy, who left Congress in 2019 citing the need to spend more time with his family, is the second Fox host to be tapped by Trump, after Defense Secretary pick Pete Hegseth.

Trump’s nomination of Duffy, a co-host of Fox Business’s The Bottom Line who represented a Wisconsin district from 2011 to 2019, comes as the U.S. transportation sector faces challenges — ranging from a post-COVID spike in traffic deaths to quality control issues at the airline giant Boeing to question rail safety after 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio.

If confirmed by the U.S. Senate, Duffy would oversee a sprawling department that employs about 55,000 people and runs nearly a dozen transportation-related administrations and agencies.

The agencies under the department’s mandate include the Federal Aviation Administration, the Federal Railroad Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which regulates automakers like Tesla, run by billionaire Elon Musk, who has been hired to lead a “Department of Government Efficiency” in the incoming administration.

Duffy, a staunch defender of Trump both in Congress and on Fox, would succeed Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who was nominated by President Joe Biden.

Trump previously urged Duffy to run for Wisconsin governor in 2022, praising him as “virtually unbeatable,” but the former congressman declined.

Before entering politics, Duffy gained recognition in the 1990s as a star of MTV’s The Real World: Boston and Road Rules: All Stars.