1. Sean Patrick Duffy was born on October 3,1971 and is an American politician, lawyer, and former reality television personality who has served as the 20th United States secretary of transportation since 2025.
39 Facts About Sean Duffy
1. 2.
In November 2024, Donald Trump named Sean Duffy to be his nominee for Secretary of Transportation in his second presidency.
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Sean Duffy was born on October 3,1971, in Hayward, Wisconsin, the tenth of 11 children of Carol Ann and Thomas Walter Sean Duffy.
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Sean Duffy has a bachelor's degree in marketing from Saint Mary's University of Minnesota and a Juris Doctor from William Mitchell College of Law.
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Sean Duffy started log rolling at age five and speed climbing at 13.
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In 1997, Sean Duffy starred on The Real World: Boston, the sixth season of the MTV reality television show, and on Road Rules: All Stars, a Winnebago driving event, in 1998, where he met his future wife Rachel Campos.
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Sean Duffy has been an ESPN color commentator for televised competitions and in 2003 appeared as both a competitor and commentator on ESPN's Great Outdoor Games.
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Sean Duffy was named Badger State Games Honorary Athlete of the 2004 Winter Games.
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Sean Duffy was reelected unopposed in 2002,2004,2006 and 2008.
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Sean Duffy was on the Republican slate of the 10 Wisconsin electors for the 2008 presidential election.
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On July 8,2009, Sean Duffy announced his campaign for Congress in Wisconsin's seventh congressional district.
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Sean Duffy was considered an underdog in the race until May 2010 when 15-term incumbent Democratic representative Dave Obey announced that he would not seek re-election.
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On June 4,2010, Sean Duffy announced his resignation from the position of Ashland County district attorney to focus on the congressional race.
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The resignation was effective three weeks later and Sean Duffy returned to work in his father's law practice.
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Sean Duffy won the race on November 2,2010, in a nationwide wave of Republicans being elected to Congress.
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Sean Duffy was challenged by Democratic nominee Pat Kreitlow, whom he defeated.
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In March 2011, Sean Duffy attended a Polk County Republican public town hall-style meeting in his district.
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Sean Duffy responded that he would only be willing to do so as part of a general round of salary cuts for government employees, and insisted that he was "struggling" to get by, despite his salary being nearly three times the average for Wisconsin residents.
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Sean Duffy was on the Select Investigative Panel on Planned Parenthood.
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Sean Duffy supported President Donald Trump's 2017 executive order to impose a temporary ban on entry to the US to citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries.
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In January 2017, Sean Duffy co-sponsored legislation that would end protection for grey wolves in the Endangered Species Act.
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In July 2018, Sean Duffy said that Europe, China, Canada and Mexico had committed "economic terrorism in a way" by placing retaliatory tariffs on the United States in response to tariffs enacted by the Trump administration.
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Sean Duffy resigned his seat effective September 23,2019, to have more time to help his wife care for their daughter, who has a heart defect.
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Sean Duffy proposed legislation to replace the director of the consumer watchdog group, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, with a five-person commission and removing the CFPB from Federal Reserve System oversight so that it "would go through the same funding process as other federal agencies".
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The bill gave the commission more room to get rid of policies that Sean Duffy believes jeopardize the safety of the US banking system.
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In December 2015, Sean Duffy introduced legislation to establish a five-person financial oversight board over Puerto Rico in exchange for allowing public entities in Puerto Rico access to Chapter 9 restructuring.
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In 2018, Sean Duffy introduced legislation for Trump to enact more tariffs.
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Sean Duffy joined the lobbying firm BGR Group as a senior counsel, eventually serving as a leader of the firm's financial services practice, where he represented clients such as Enterprise Products and the Partnership for Fair and Open Skies.
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Sean Duffy traveled to western North Carolina February 10,2025.
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Sean Duffy was officially sworn in by United States Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas on January28,2025.
31.
On January 29,2025, Sean Duffy was ceremonially sworn in by Vice President JD Vance.
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On his first official day in office, Sean Duffy responded to the 2025 Potomac River mid-air collision from the Federal Aviation Administration headquarters.
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On March 7,2025, The New York Times reported that Sean Duffy had a clash with Elon Musk during a White House cabinet meeting.
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Elon Musk retorted that what Sean Duffy had said was a "lie".
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Sean Duffy engaged in climate change denial on Fox Business in 2024, saying:.
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Sean Duffy is married to Rachel Campos-Duffy, a fellow alumna of The Real World and Fox News personality, whom he met when they were co-stars on Road Rules: All Stars.
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In late 2011, they moved to Weston so that Sean Duffy would be closer to Central Wisconsin Airport for his commute to Washington, DC, where he spent three or four days a week.
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Sean Duffy is the first New Jersey resident to serve in a presidential cabinet since Lisa P Jackson, an East Windsor Township resident who was the administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency during the first presidency of Barack Obama.
39.
Sean Duffy's nephew, Erik Johnson, is an American ice hockey defenseman for the Colorado Avalanche.