To many wrestling fans, Linda McMahon is best known as the former chief executive officer of World Wrestling Entertainment.
McMahon was a public face of WWE, even stepping inside the ring to perform roles during national television broadcasts.
She left the world of wrestling for politics, becoming an ally of President elect-Donald Trump, and a leading figure in the conservative movement.
In Connecticut, however, McMahon also worked in a quieter realm: education. She served briefly on a state board that sets school policy. McMahon is also a longtime trustee of Sacred Heart University, a private Catholic school in Fairfield.
Those positions comprise some of McMahon’s most direct experience in education as she prepares for a more significant role. Trump last year nominated McMahon to serve as education secretary in his incoming administration.
McMahon will face questions from lawmakers in the U.S. Senate in the coming weeks about whether she’s fit for the job.
Setting education policy
McMahon grew up in North Carolina and later settled in Greenwich, Connecticut. She led the company that became WWE with husband Vince McMahon, and grew the business into an international phenomenon, with its headquarters in Stamford.
McMahon resigned in 2009 and served about one year on the Connecticut Board of Education. Former Republican Gov. M. Jodi Rell nominated McMahon to fill a vacancy on the board.
Lawmakers approved her for the position on a bipartisan vote, but not without controversy over her qualifications. Former state Rep. Andy Fleischmann was among a group of Democrats who voiced concern during the confirmation process.
Speaking last month, Fleischmann said he opposed McMahon because she lacked education experience, and because he believes the wrestling company she operated promotes violent and sexual imagery that is inappropriate for children, he said.
Some also suspected McMahon’s nomination to the board was a political favor, Fleischmann said – a springboard into government service to help pad McMahon’s resume ahead of a potential run for office.
“The only evident connection between her and the role was the fact that she had been a supporter of Gov. Rell,” he said.
Efforts to reach McMahon were unsuccessful. During a February 2009 hearing on her nomination, McMahon said she planned to be a teacher before starting a family and going into business. She said she was troubled by the declining reading and writing skills of youth, and described WWE’s work to promote positive messages for children, including programs that brought wrestling superstars into classrooms to encourage reading.
“I'm not an educator,” she said, according to an official transcript of the hearing, “but what you will have from me is my commitment of open-mindedness … . I will do everything I can to bring sides together from the community, from the public, from business leaders, and hopefully, from legislators to make our education the best it can be.”
‘No sense of a divide’
McMahon also has a long track record with Sacred Heart, serving on its Board of Trustees for about 16 years, first from 2004 through 2017, and again since 2021, according to university spokesperson Deborah Noack. McMahon is currently the board’s treasurer.
She has also donated $5 million to the school. The student commons and dining hall inside are named after her.
“Linda’s generosity to Sacred Heart over the years has been tremendous,” university President John J. Petillo said in a written statement. “She cares deeply about our students and understands our mission. We are grateful for her friendship. We are confident that Linda's leadership will bring enormous value to the education system, just as it has to Sacred Heart University.”
McMahon attended meetings of the Connecticut Board of Education from 2009 through early 2010 before resigning her seat to run for the U.S. Senate.
Records show discord on the state board was rare during that time. Members took action on routine items, such as reviewing school improvement plans. Most votes were unanimous.
"I found Linda to be a very dedicated person who came completely and fully prepared to every meeting that we had," said Janet Finneran, who served with McMahon.
Michael Meotti, the state’s former higher education commissioner, said he remembers education policy had less political valence in that era.
“The level of contentiousness and everything else just didn't exist back then,” said Meotti, who is also a former Democratic lawmaker in the state, and served on the Board of Education with McMahon.
“There was no sense of a divide,” Meotti said. “There was no sense of members of the board, whether they came from a background that was Democratic or Republican. It was just not that way at all.”
Conservative politics
It's clear where McMahon fits on the political spectrum today. A Republican, McMahon ran two unsuccessful Senate campaigns, losing to Democrats Richard Blumenthal in 2010 and Chris Murphy in 2012. She made national headlines for spending about $100 million on those losing bids for office, according to previous reporting from The New York Times.
McMahon later emerged as a key supporter of Trump, donating millions to get him elected, and leading the Small Business Administration during Trump’s first term. She is now helping to establish Trump’s second administration as co-chair of the Trump-Vance Transition Team.
Some local Democrats previously praised McMahon’s business acumen. During McMahon’s 2017 confirmation hearing for SBA administrator, Blumenthal called her a “tireless leader and a tenacious fighter.”
Murphy also spoke in support of McMahon’s SBA nomination at the time, saying “politics can’t work if political grudges never die.”
“Political adversaries have to find a way to work together after the fight is over,” Murphy said. “I have confidence that she is going to give good, sound counsel to President Trump when it comes to policy affecting small businesses.”
McMahon’s nomination for education secretary may prove more controversial.
A spokesperson for Murphy declined a request for comment because Murphy sits on the congressional committee that will hold McMahon’s confirmation hearing.
Blumenthal told Connecticut Public he’s leaning against voting to confirm McMahon.
“If she implements the Trump agenda, as the president elect has said she would, it would mean very strong cutbacks on aid to our high schools and elementary schools, as well as our community colleges,” he said.
Future of education
The Department of Education could see sweeping changes. Trump has called for closing the department and shifting more responsibility to states. His platform also calls for cutting funding for schools that teach critical race theory or radical gender ideology.
Another cornerstone of the Republican platform is expanding school choice, which means giving parents more education options for their kids, such as educating them at home or sending them to charter schools. McMahon supports choice programs, writing in 2015 that children are too often stuck in failing schools.
“Choice and competition do not kill public schools, as some have feared; rather, they push all schools to be better,” McMahon wrote. “If parents are choosing the alternatives over failing neighborhood schools, those schools should recognize something needs to change. Every school should be a great school.”
Hamlet Hernandez, director of the educational leadership program at Quinnipiac University, said he thinks McMahon is a “very, very poor pick" for education secretary because of her relative lack of experience in the field. The federal government plays an important role in education by providing money to schools, and establishing broad policies, he said.
“Just because you ran a business, it doesn't make you eminently qualified to run a Department of Education that you have no experience in,” he said.
But Ben Proto, chairman of the Connecticut Republican Party, rejects that notion. He said McMahon will be part of a fundamental shift in education in the United States.
“Anybody who says the Department of Education is doing a good job in helping our students is ignoring history,” he said. “I think what you're going to see Linda do, in implementing the president's policies, is work to turn that around.”
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont told television station WTNH that he knows McMahon well, and will collaborate with her if her nomination is confirmed.
“I need to have some friends in the Trump administration,” Lamont said. “You know, given all the other choices out there, I think she'd be a pretty good secretary of education and I look forward to working with her."
