The Hill’s 2012 New Members Guide

Rep.-elect Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.-02)

DATE OF BIRTH: July 26, 1977

BIRTHPLACE: Tulsa, Okla.

RESIDENCE: Westville, Okla.

OCCUPATION: Businessman 

EDUCATION: Attended Oklahoma State University, Okmulgee 

PREVIOUS OFFICE HELD: None

FAMILY: Wife, Christie; three children 

Markwayne Mullin, owner of a plumbing business, will replace the only Democrat in the Oklahoma delegation. 

Mullin won the open race to replace Rep. Dan Boren (D-Okla.), a Blue Dog Democrat who chose to retire. The district had remained in Democratic hands for seven years despite voting for Republican presidents since before 2000.

Describing himself as a rancher and business owner, Mullin holds no experience in elected office. He graduated from Stilwell High School in Oklahoma and briefly attended college on a wrestling scholarship. After an injury, Mullin left school to head his family’s plumbing business.

During the campaign, he was one of a few candidates tapped by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to deliver the GOP weekly address a month before the election. Critics hit Mullin for accepting plumbing contracts that were part of President Obama’s stimulus package. Mullin opposes the law.