Markwayne Mullin

In June 2011, incumbent U.S. Representative Dan Boren announced that he would retire at the end of 2012.[12] In September 2011, Mullin declared his candidacy for the 2012 elections to the United States House of Representatives to represent Oklahoma's 2nd congressional district.[13] Mullin branded himself as an outsider; his campaign slogan was "A rancher. A businessman. Not a politician!"[14] In the six-candidate Republican primary, Mullin finished first with 42% of the vote; state representative George Faught ranked second with 23% of the vote.[15] In the primary runoff election, Mullin defeated Faught, 57%–43%.[16]

Oklahoma's 2nd congressional district had historically been a "Yellow Dog" Democratic district, but had steadily trended Republican as Tulsa's suburbs spilled into its northern portion. For this reason, Mullin was thought to have a good chance of winning the election. He defeated the Democratic nominee, former district attorney Rob Wallace, 57%–38%.[17] Mullin was the first Republican to represent the district since Tom Coburn in 2001.[18]

In 2014, Mullin was reelected with 70% of the vote, defeating Democrat Earl Everrett who got 24.6% of the vote.[19]

In the June 2016 Republican primary, Mullin defeated Jarrin Jackson by 27 percentage points.[20] In the November general election, he defeated Democrat Joshua Harris-Till by 47 percentage points.[21]

When he first ran for Congress in 2012, Mullin promised to serve only three terms (six years), but in July 2017 he released a video announcing that he would run for a fourth term in 2018, saying he was ill-advised when he made the promise to only serve three terms.[22] After he reneged on this promise, former U.S. senator Tom Coburn said he would work to oust Mullin from office.[20] Mullin won a four-way Republican primary with 54% of the vote, and was reelected in November with 65% of the vote.[23][24]

In 2020, Mullin won the Republican primary with 79.9% of the vote, and was reelected in November with 75% of the vote.[25][26]

Mullin during the
113th Congress

In April 2017, Mullin drew criticism when he was recorded during a town hall meeting telling his constituents that it was "bullcrap" that taxpayers pay his salary. He said, "I pay for myself. I paid enough taxes before I got here and continue to through my company to pay my own salary. This is a service. No one here pays me to go."[27] As of 2022, Mullin still collects the U.S. Congress base salary of $174,000.[28]

In a 2018 report,[29] the U.S. House Ethics Committee said that “Mullin made a good faith effort to seek the Committee’s informal guidance on numerous issues with respect to his family business.” But the committee noted that Congressional ethics rules state that members of Congress should not endorse products or services, particularly if they personally benefit financially from the endorsement.[11]

Along with all other Senate and House Republicans, Mullin voted against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021.[30] In August 2022, he came out against President Joe Biden's student loan forgiveness plan, but subsequently received criticism after the White House Twitter account pointed out that Mullin had benefited from $1.4 million of federal PPP loan forgiveness.[31][32][33][34][35][36] Mullin also voted against the TRUTH Act (H.R. 6782), a bill that would have required public disclosure of companies that received funds through the bailout program.[37][38]

During the January 6 United States Capitol attack, Mullin and Representatives Troy Nehls (a former Sheriff and Army veteran) and Pat Fallon (an Air Force veteran) helped U.S. Capitol Police build barricades and protect the doors to the House chamber from the rioters. He and many of his colleagues were later ushered to a secure location, where he declined offers to wear a mask, in violation of House rules.[39][40] Mullin said that he witnessed the shooting of Trump supporter Ashli Babbitt during the attack, which occurred after she climbed through a barricade leading towards the House Chamber; Mullin's viewpoint was that the Capitol police officer "didn't have a choice" but to shoot, and that this action "saved people's lives", with members of Congress and their staff "in danger" from the "mob".[41][42][43]

On August 30, 2021, during the final days of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, Mullin asked officials of the U.S. embassy in Tajikistan for assistance in going to Afghanistan to retrieve five American citizens. Because the plan involved violations of Tajikistan currency restrictions, the embassy staffers refused. The U.S. State Department had warned Mullin not to try his own rescue of Americans in Afghanistan, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy had both urged members of Congress to avoid travel to Afghanistan during the final days of the U.S. military presence.[44]

• Committee on Armed Services
  • Subcommittee on Airland
  • Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities
  • Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support
• Committee on Environment and Public Works
• Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pension
• Committee on Indian Affairs

• Republican Study Committee[46]
• Congressional Western Caucus[47]

In February 2022, U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe announced he would resign from his seat at the end of the 117th United States Congress on January 3, 2023, necessitating a special election to fill the remainder of his term. Mullin announced that he would run in the special election.[48]

In a field of 13 candidates that included Scott Pruitt and Nathan Dahm, Mullin received the most votes, with 44%, but short of the 50% required to avoid a runoff. He faced former state House Speaker T. W. Shannon, who received 18%, in the runoff election on August 23.[49] Mullin defeated Shannon in the runoff,[50] and faced the Democratic nominee, former Oklahoma's 5th congressional district Congresswoman Kendra Horn, in the November 8 general election; Mullin defeated Horn with 61.8% of the vote.[51]

Mullin wants to extend federal boxing regulations to the practices of mixed martial arts businesses like Ultimate Fighting Champion.[52] His 2016 proposed legislation would have forced the UFC to share financial information with fighters and create an independent ranking system.[53] Mullin reportedly plans to reintroduce the Ali Expansion Act as a senator in 2023.[54]

In December 2020, Mullin was one of 126 Republican members of the House of Representatives to sign an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden defeated incumbent Donald Trump.[55] The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lacked standing under Article III of the Constitution to challenge the results of an election held by another state.[56][57][58]

When campaigning for the 2022 United States Senate special election in Oklahoma, Mullin supported the claim that the 2020 election was stolen from Donald Trump.[59]

Mullin supports making abortion illegal in all circumstances, even in cases of rape, incest, or if the mother's life is at risk. During the 2022 Republican runoff debate, he claimed that if his wife's life were at risk during a pregnancy, neither he nor his wife would want to get an abortion.[60]

On December 10, 2020, Mullin and Representative Tulsi Gabbard introduced the Protect Women's Sports Act, a bill to define Title IX protections on the basis of an individual's biological sex, making it a violation for institutions that receive federal funding to "permit a person whose biological sex at birth is male to participate in an athletic program or activity that is designated for women or girls". This bill would effectively ban many transgender athletes from participating in programs corresponding with their gender identity.[61][62][63]