By ZEKE MILLER, MICHELLE L. PRICE and DARLENE SUPERVILLE
WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump said Monday he is naming former Wisconsin Rep. Sean Duffy as his nominee to be transportation secretary, as he continues to roll out picks for his Cabinet.
Duffy is a former reality TV star who was one of Trump’s most visible defenders on cable news — a prime concern for the media-focused president-elect. Duffy served in the House for nearly nine years, was a member of the Financial Services Committee and was chairman of the subcommittee on insurance and housing. He left Congress in 2019, and is now co-host of a show on Fox Business, the “Bottom Line.”
In his announcement Monday, Trump noted that Duffy is married to a Fox News host, calling him “the husband of a wonderful woman, Rachel Campos-Duffy, a STAR on Fox News.”
Duffy is so far the second Fox-affiliated television host to be named to a cabinet position in Trump’s new White House. Trump last week announced he was choosing Fox News host Pete Hegseth to serve as his defense secretary.
Trump said Duffy would use his experience and relationships built over the years in Congress “to maintain and rebuild our Nation’s Infrastructure, and fulfill our Mission of ushering in The Golden Age of Travel, focusing on Safety, Efficiency, and Innovation. Importantly, he will greatly elevate the Travel Experience for all Americans!”
Duffy in 2022 ruled out a run for Wisconsin governor, despite pleas from Trump to make a bid, saying he needed time to care for the needs of his family of nine children, posting on social media that his youngest child had a heart condition.
He is a former lumberjack athlete and frequent contributor to Fox News. He was featured on MTV’s “The Real World: Boston” in 1997. He met his future wife on the set of MTV’s “Road Rules: All Stars” in 1998.
He was a special prosecutor and Ashland County district attorney who won election to Congress as part of a tea party wave in 2010. He served until resigning in 2019.
Trump, in his statement, said Duffy would “prioritize Excellence, Competence, Competitiveness and Beauty when rebuilding America’s highways, tunnels, bridges and airports.” Trump, as he campaigned for the White House, would sometimes complain about the state of air travel in particular, lamenting that the nation’s “once-revered airports” are a “dirty, crowded mess.”
Duffy, Trump said Monday, “will make our skies safe again by eliminating DEI for pilots and air traffic controllers.” DEI refers to “diversity, equity and inclusion” programs.
The Transportation Department oversees the nation’s complex transportation system, including pipelines, railroads, cars, trucks and transit systems as well as federal funding for highways.
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The department includes the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which regulates automakers, including Elon Musk’s Tesla. The department sets fuel economy standards for cars and trucks and regulates the airline industry through the Federal Aviation Administration, one of its agencies.
Trump has criticized electric vehicles as expensive and unreliable and called President Joe Biden’s policy to promote EVs “lunacy.
He also has said EV manufacturing will destroy auto industry jobs and has falsely claimed that battery-powered cars don’t work in cold weather and aren’t able to travel long distances.
Trump has softened his rhetoric in recent months after Musk endorsed him and campaigned heavily for his election.
Even so, industry officials expect Trump to try to slow a shift to electric cars, and a tax credit for EV purchases is reportedly among those the Trump administration may seek to eliminate next year.
Price reported from New York and Superville reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Matthew Daly in Washington contributed to this report.