Do we like them?

Do we like Linda McMahon?

Our score: 2 out of 10. Her own department targets trans students' rights, and the only real good I could verify is a 2012 stance on same-sex marriage.

Linda McMahon went from wrestling-company boss to politician. She lost her Connecticut Senate race in 2012, later worked in Trump's first term, and has since raised millions through a pro-Trump super PAC. She was sworn in as Education Secretary in 2025. The record I could actually open is thinner on her early years than on her time in office, so that's where this column spends its time.

The legal cloud first. A lawsuit filed in Baltimore County in October 2024 by five anonymous plaintiffs names WWE, TKO, Linda and her husband Vince. It alleges they knew a ringside announcer sexually abused children in the 1980s. She and her lawyers deny it. Last I could see, the case was paused while Maryland's top court decided whether the 2023 law reviving such claims is constitutional. Nothing has been proven, but it hangs over her.

There's also a stoush over oversight. In 2025 congressional Democrats accused her of obstructing the department's own inspector general, whose office wrote that its review had been delayed by the department's refusal to hand over documents and staff access. The department hadn't replied to ABC's request for comment at the time. She has said it will pursue abolishing the agency in a lawful fashion.

Now the harm check, which is where she struggles. Her department opened Title IX probes into states over transgender athletes, including Washington state, and has gone after other schools and states on trans students' access. Supporters say that protects women's sport. LGBTQ+ groups and others say it targets trans kids. Where you land depends on which of those you hear, but it's her department's own action and it's aimed at a group this page backs.

The wider job is just as contested. The Supreme Court in July 2025 let her department go ahead with layoffs that would leave it with about half its staff, and she said no statutory funding would be cut. Critics, including teachers' unions and Democratic-led states, warned it would hurt student loan borrowers and disadvantaged students. This October she was out defending the budget cuts on her state tour.

The good stuff is thin. In a 2012 Senate debate she said she'd vote to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, and the Advocate reported she was the only Republican Senate candidate to step out of line with her party on it. That's a real mark in her favour. I couldn't verify charity work or kind acts, so that's honestly the whole list.