Mullin’s smooth confirmation was a throwback in the Senate.

Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.), President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Homeland Security, testifies during his confirmation hearing before the Senate Homeland Security Committee in Washington on Wednesday, March 18, 2026. In choosing Mullin, who has warm relationships across the Capitol and the political aisle, President Trump was reverting to a bygone tradition. (Kenny Holston/The New York Times)

By MICHAEL GOLD

Facing a phalanx of fellow senators who held his nomination as homeland security secretary in their hands, Markwayne Mullin sat on the opposite side of a dais at his confirmation hearing last week and offered a promise.

“We’re going to work with you,” Mullin, a Republican senator from Oklahoma and decade-long veteran of the House, told a Senate Democrat. “But most importantly, I think everybody on this dais has my personal cellphone. That cellphone isn’t going to change. And if you call me, you’re going to get a response. If you text me, you’re going to get a response.”

In the end, Mullin’s vow, which he repeated later in the hearing, did not win him broad bipartisan support at a time when the two parties are deeply divided over immigration enforcement under the department he is poised to lead. But it may have cleared the way for two Democrats to join all but one Republican to confirm him Monday night, in a 54-45 vote.

And whether they voted for him or not, senators from across the ideological spectrum suggested that they had been encouraged by a characteristic that has been notably lacking in most of President Donald Trump’s other Cabinet choices: Mullin is someone they know well and believe they can work with.

Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, one of two Democrats to cross party lines and support his confirmation, explained his vote by citing his working relationship with Mullin. In a statement, he said that he trusted that Mullin, whom he called a friend, would not “be bullied” by White House officials and that he would work with Congress more constructively than his predecessor, Kristi Noem. (Despite having served for eight years in the House, Noem did not enjoy the same kind of warm relationships with members of the Senate, particularly among Democrats, and came to be regarded by many members in both parties as unresponsive and ineffective.)

“I would like a secretary who I can call and have a constructive conversation with,” Heinrich said.

It remains to be seen whether that dynamic will hold, particularly as Mullin takes the reins of a department that oversees Trump’s divisive immigration enforcement policies.

The Senate has been locked in a stalemate for more than a month over funding the Homeland Security Department. In private talks with a House Democrat, Mullin, who has carved out a role as a liaison between Congress and the White House, had been discussing concessions that went further than Trump’s team had been willing to in the talks. As secretary, he may be required to adopt a sterner posture toward compromise.

Still, Mullin’s confirmation was something of a throwback to a bygone era when presidents sought agency and department heads who would easily attract bipartisan support on Capitol Hill, and who could quickly win the trust of lawmakers there.

When Democrats controlled the Senate in 2013, they changed the rules to allow most presidential nominees to be confirmed by a simple majority rather than a supermajority. In the era of the closely divided Senate, that has effectively relieved presidents of the burden of choosing nominees acceptable to the minority party, since their votes are no longer needed.

In choosing Mullin, Trump, intentionally or not, revived what had once been the status quo: a Cabinet-level pick whose personal connections could outweigh some lawmakers’ political concerns.

Even as Democrats challenged Mullin over his views and the Trump administration’s policies, they were at times quick to note that they had no doubt about his character.

“I do know you very personally and we’ve gotten to work together,” said Sen, Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., as he questioned Mullin over his views on the 2020 election. “I think you’re an upstanding guy, and I reject this idea that you’re not qualified for this job, 100%.”

Gallego was absent for the vote Monday.

Republicans, too, signaled that Mullin’s collegiality put them at ease. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., told reporters that she expected Mullin to be more responsive to lawmakers’ concerns than Noem had been.

“You couldn’t get a return phone call from the Department of Homeland Security on anything,” Lummis said. “And that’s never been the case with any other agency.”

When Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., asked Mullin how he would address a lag in providing data to Congress, Mullin acknowledged their shared resumes, then swore to “work with any committee to make sure that we are getting the information you need to do your job.”

There were other signs that Mullin’s affability, which has made him popular with Democrats and Republicans, eased his path. Mullin moved through his confirmation process in 18 days. Even as Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who is chair of the Homeland Security Committee, vented his personal animus toward Mullin and voted against his nomination, he did not impede the process.

By contrast, Trump’s pick for surgeon general, Casey Means, was nominated last May. She had a confirmation hearing last month and has yet to be advanced to the full Senate for a vote.

After Mullin received enough votes to be confirmed, senators and his supporters watching the vote erupted in cheers. As he walked out of the Senate chamber, reporters then asked Mullin for an update on negotiations to fund the department he is about to lead.

Mullin grinned as he headed for the door.

“You’re going to have to ask the senators about that,” he said.