President-elect Donald Trump today picked Sean Duffy as his nomination to lead the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) for the next four years, choosing a former Republican U.S. Rep. for Wisconsin and current Fox News television host, according to published reports.
Duffy served in the U.S. House for nearly nine years after he found fame as a reality TV show cast member on a spinoff show from the MTV hit series “The Real World” and then as district attorney for a county in Wisconsin. As he named his choice for the potential cabinet slot, Trump noted that Duffy also met his wife on that television series, marrying a fellow actor who also went on to become a Fox News TV personality.
If Duffy earns confirmation by the U.S. Senate, he would become the second Fox News media employee after potential Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Duffy would replace current DOT Secretary Pete Buttigieg, a Biden Administration pick who succeeded former Trump Administration choice Elaine Chao, who resigned in the wake of the deadly January 6 riots following Trump’s election loss in 2020.
Following news of the nomination, trucking industry group the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association (OOIDA) urged Duffy to concentrate on a handful of specific issues. “OOIDA and the 150,000 small business truckers we represent congratulate Representative Sean Duffy on his nomination as Secretary of Transportation,” OOIDA President Todd Spencer said in a statement. “We look forward to working with him in advancing the priorities of small business truckers across America, including expanding truck parking, fighting freight fraud, and rolling back unnecessary regulations. We encourage a swift confirmation in the Senate and look forward to working with the new administration.”
Likewise, the current Ranking Member of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, Rick Larsen (D-WA), said he hoped to work with Duffy to pass a bipartisan surface transportation bill in the next term.
“This Congress, the T&I Committee has advanced major bipartisan legislation to keep people and the economy moving, including the FAA Reauthorization Act, the Water Resources Development Act, and the Coast Guard Authorization Act,” Larsen said in an email. “Next Congress, I look forward to working with my T&I colleagues to build on this bipartisan work by passing a surface transportation bill—which Congress has consistently done for the past 25 years—that will create good-paying jobs and build a cleaner, greener, safer and more accessible transportation system across the country. Transportation policy has a long bipartisan history, and I look forward to continuing to maintain the tradition under Former Representative Sean Duffy’s leadership and working together to pass the next surface transportation authorization, creating more jobs, if he is confirmed as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation.”
