Sean Duffy, a former GOP congressman and Fox News contributor, has been appointed by President-elect Trump to lead the Department of Transportation. Trump hailed Duffy as a “respected voice and communicator” in a post on Truth Social announcing the selection. For eight years, Duffy served as a representative from his home state of Wisconsin in the US House of Representatives. Since 2020, he has contributed to Fox News, and since 2023, he has presented The Bottom Line on the Fox Business Network. President-elect Trump has appointed a Fox personality to his cabinet for the second time in as many weeks. He appointed Fox & Friends’ Pete Hegseth to head the Department of Defense. In addition to being a skilled lumberjack, Duffy has won multiple world speed climbing titles.
The role of the transportation secretary
Duffy obtained a law degree and was Ashland County, Wisconsin’s District Attorney, from 2002 to 2010, when he resigned to run for Congress. He was chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations and a member of the House Financial Services Committee in Washington.
“Admired across the aisle, Sean worked with Democrats to clear extensive legislative hurdles to build the largest road and bridge project in Minnesota history,”
Trump stated in his tweet. If confirmed as secretary of transportation, Duffy will oversee a vast department that employs over 57,000 people and has an annual budget of over $100 billion. The department is heavily involved in managing the country’s ports, highways, railroads, and aviation systems. The department has distributed billions of dollars in money under the bipartisan infrastructure package under current Secretary Pete Buttigieg to construct roads, bridges, tunnels, renovate airports, and more. Despite some resistance from airlines, Buttigieg has also pushed an ambitious agenda to defend air travelers’ consumer rights. Additionally, he has praised initiatives to make the country’s highways safer for vulnerable users, such as walkers.
Duffy’s political experience and qualifications
The Federal Aviation Administration, which oversees the country’s airspace, as well as organizations that control the country’s railroads and establish safety regulations for cars, trucks, and commercial vehicles are all part of the Department of Transportation. The world’s richest man, Elon Musk, has poured hundreds of millions of dollars into Trump’s reelection campaign and stands to gain from his win. In many areas, the department’s vast authority clashes with Musk’s corporate interests. Because of its launch procedures, Musk’s business SpaceX has occasionally fought with FAA officials. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, another DOT agency, is formally looking into Musk’s automaker Tesla’s “Full Self-Driving” system after the firm recorded four collisions in limited visibility, including one that claimed a pedestrian’s life. The NHTSA has already investigated Tesla’s “Autopilot” system following a string of collisions with parked emergency vehicles; this study is simply the most recent attempt to examine the company’s driver-assistance technologies.
Implications for US transportation policy
Following the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, Elaine Chao, the transportation secretary during President-elect Trump’s first term, resigned, citing the “traumatic and entirely avoidable” violence that day. Former U.S. Representative Sean Duffy, a Republican from Wisconsin, will be the next secretary of transportation, according to a statement released by President-elect Donald Trump on Monday night. Duffy won five elections to the U.S. House but left in 2019 to care for a daughter born with Down syndrome and a heart ailment. During his time in the House, he received recognition from both parties for his role in passing legislation funding a bridge connecting Wisconsin and Minnesota. Before entering the congressional race, Duffy had an appearance on MTV’s “The Real World.” On the show, he met Rachel Campos-Duffy, his wife. Following his departure from Congress, Duffy made a comeback to television, first as a CNN analyst, then as a Fox News contributor, and, finally, as a co-host on Fox Business.
Reactions to Duffy’s nomination
He oversaw the financial services division of the Republican-leaning lobbying firm BGR Group and was a former member of the House Financial Services Committee. Trump emphasized Duffy’s time in Congress in a written statement he released during the presidential transition. “With a focus on safety, efficiency, and innovation, Sean will use his experience and the relationships he has developed over his many years in Congress to maintain and rebuild our nation’s infrastructure and fulfill our mission of ushering in the Golden Age of Travel,” Trump wrote. “He will significantly improve the travel experience for all Americans, which is important!” Trump and Duffy seem to get along well; the former president even encouraged Duffy to run for Wisconsin governor in 2022, eluding former Lt. Gov. Rebecca Kleefisch, the front-runner for the GOP ticket.
