U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin, who is awaiting a confirmation hearing to become President Donald Trump’s Secretary of Homeland Security, has a political action committee that has shelled out nearly $1.5 million since 2021 for expenses including flights on private jets, limousine rentals, golf outings, clothing and outdoor gear, luxury hotel stays, tickets to Washington Nationals baseball games and bar tabs.

Boots Political Action Committee, a type of fundraising group known as a leadership PAC, raised more than $2.7 million between January 2021 and February 2026, according to Federal Election Commission records. The PAC allows Mullin to raise money to support his political allies. Boots PAC spent more than $2.1 million on expenses and campaign contributions during that time period, more than any other leadership PAC associated with Oklahoma’s congressional delegation. Less than a third of the money Boots PAC spent during that time — $703,579 — was donated to other candidates, records show. Most of it went to other expenses. Boots PAC was formed in 2014, when Mullin served in the U.S. House of Representatives. He was elected to the Senate in 2022. 

Mullin’s office did not respond to requests from The Frontier for comment. Lisa Lisker, the treasurer for Boots PAC, declined to comment on the spending or Mullin’s future plans for the committee.

If confirmed, Mullin can continue to operate the Boots PAC.

There are no rules requiring Mullin to shut down Boots PAC or his candidate committee if he becomes Secretary of Homeland Security, allowing him to continue fundraising and spending while heading the agency, said Michael Beckel, research director for Issue One, a nonpartisan nonprofit group based in Washington D.C. that advocates for reducing the influence of money in politics.

“I think time will tell if that’s something that he just keeps on the back burner, or if it’s something he continues to raise funds for, to help the Republican Party and like-minded candidates,” Beckel said. There’s certainly precedent with other folks, both in this administration and prior administrations, who have been in similar positions.”

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The largest donors to Boots PAC over the past five years include the Cherokee Nation, which donated $25,000 and Koch Industries, which gave $23,500. Cox Enterprises, Humana, Inc., Lockton Inc., the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians and Pine Telephone general manager Jerry Whisenhunt all donated $20,000 each.

Boots PAC spent $169,933 on private jets and other chartered air travel between May 2024 and December 2025; $10,188 on “event apparel” from Poncho Outdoors; $5,761 on “event apparel/equipment” from hunting and outdoor store Cabela’s; $5,257 for “event equipment” at Academy Sports and Outdoors; $2,067 for golf equipment from Titleist.com and $10,000 for a private chef, 

Leadership PACs are often sponsored by members of Congress, separate from candidate committees used to fund their own political campaign. 

Since they first came into use in the 1970s, leadership PACs have become ubiquitous in Washington D.C., and have been criticized for serving as “slush funds” for members of Congress’ personal expenses, with a minority of their spending going toward assisting other candidates. The Federal Election Commission has done little to rein in personal spending by the groups.

Leadership PACs can spend funds more freely for the personal benefit of the sponsoring politician than campaign funds, Beckel said. Candidates are prohibited from using their campaign funds for any personal use expenditures.

“At the end of the day, these PACs are often vehicles for special interests to curry favor with politicians. If you’ve already given the legal maximum to a candidate’s own campaign committee, leadership PACs represent another pocket you can stuff money into,” Beckel said.

If a politician’s leadership PAC is not spending much of its money on contributing to other candidates, it could be a red flag, Beckel said.

“Wealthy donors like to be wined and dined at fancy restaurants. You often hear that it takes money to raise money, and when you see expenditures at fancy restaurants, at fancy resorts, you know, some politicians might argue with a straight face that this was for furthering fundraising for furthering relationships with donors who needed to be wined and dined at a lavish location,” Beckel said. “But you don’t see a lot of political fundraising happening at Denny’s or McDonald’s. You often see politicians being able to enjoy trips to ski resorts or beach resorts, eating at fancy steakhouses, and not having to foot the bill for it, because they’ve got these leadership PACs that can be used almost as slush funds to pay for all sorts of things.”

All seven of Oklahoma’s current Congressional delegation operate leadership PACs, though some are far more active than others. On average, 56% of spending by Oklahoma’s Congressional delegation’s leadership PACs was donations to other candidates, according to an analysis by The Frontier of federal campaign data.

For comparison, nearly two-thirds of the $1.7 million spent by Oklahoma’s senior U.S. Sen. James Lankford’s leadership PAC, Leadership and Accountability are National Keys PAC, was for donations to other candidates, federal spending data shows.

The only other member of Oklahoma’s Congressional delegation whose leadership PAC showed less than half of its spending being donated to other candidates was U.S. Rep. Josh Brecheen’s Blessing of Liberty PAC, which has made only one donation to a candidate, according to federal data. However, Blessing of Liberty PAC only raised less than $15,000, and all other spending by the PAC was on compliance consulting and reporting, according to federal data.
Mullin’s confirmation hearing in the Senate is scheduled for 8:30 a.m. Central Standard Time, Wednesday, and will be live-streamed on C-SPAN.