President-elect Donald Trump announced on Saturday that he has nominated Penny Schwinn, the former Tennessee Education Commissioner who resigned amid controversy in 2023 and is currently listed as the Chief Operating Officer of BHA Strategy, where she works under Blake Harris, the prominent Never Trumper consultant who recruited an opponent to Trump-endorsed Representative Andy Ogles (R-TN-05) last year, to serve as his administration’s Deputy Secretary of Education.
Ogles, who was endorsed by Trump more than a year prior to the election, ultimately beat the primary challenger backed by Harris in a 13-point victory, despite his opponent raising more money and receiving Harris’ support.
Trump made the announcement in a post to Truth Social, where he noted that Schwinn previously worked in Tennessee, Texas, Florida, and Delaware.
Schwinn, a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, was a controversial choice when Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee named her Education Commissioner in Tennessee in January 2019, as The Tennessee Star reported at the time: