MINNEAPOLIS — President-elect Donald Trump announced this week that he intends to nominate Forest Lake native Pete Hegseth as his next Secretary of Defense, a position that no Minnesotan has held since the creation of the position in 1947.

Hegseth, 44, is a veteran of the Minnesota Army National Guard and well-known Fox News host. His appointment is still subject to confirmation by the U.S. Senate, which Republicans will control narrowly when the new Congress convenes next year. 

“Pete is tough, smart and a true believer in America First,” Trump wrote in a statement revealing his selection. “With Pete at the helm, America’s enemies are on notice – Our Military will be Great Again, and America will Never Back Down.”

Born and raised in the Twin Cities area, Hegseth first made a name for himself in the late 1990s as a star football and basketball player at Forest Lake High School. His father, Brian, coached him on the hardwood. 

After graduating in 1999, Hegseth enrolled at Princeton, where he played four years of Division I basketball as a reserve guard and appeared in one NCAA Tournament game under renowned coach John Thompson III. When Hegseth scored a career-high six points against Columbia in 2003, Thompson praised his senior guard as “nothing but character.”

“He was a good, great student-athlete. Not just an athlete, but very academically sound,” said Bob Dettmer, who taught Hegseth at Forest Lake and later served eight terms as a Republican in the Minnesota House of Representatives. “A few of the basketball games I went to, the leadership was there. Leaders are developed, and if you take a look at his experiences in sports and also in college, he had some good coaches.”

Following his time at Princeton, Hegseth joined the Minnesota Army National Guard and deployed over the years to Guantanamo Bay, Iraq and Afghanistan, earning two Bronze Stars. He also led veterans’ groups such as “Vets for Freedom” and, in 2012, ran unsuccessfully in Minnesota’s Republican primary for U.S. Senate. 

A few years later, Hegseth joined Fox News, and over the past decade he has become a familiar face to millions of American television viewers — including President-elect Trump.

“You watch him on Fox News all the time, and he just has a style of communicating,” Dettmer said. “That’s going to be important when it comes to his responsibilities as Secretary of Defense.”

However, Hegseth’s confirmation by the Senate is no guarantee, even with Republicans poised to hold a small majority in the chamber next session. Democrats have already begun attacking Hegseth’s credentials for the job, questioning his lack of top senior leadership roles in the military. 

“A Fox & Friends weekend co-host is not qualified to be the Secretary of Defense,” Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said. “I lead the Senate military personnel panel. All three of my brothers served in uniform. I respect every one of our servicemembers. Donald Trump’s pick will make us less safe and must be rejected.”

Meanwhile, Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii argued that Hegseth “has very little, very little experience in running the largest department in the federal government, serious concerns.”

Even among Republican senators, the reaction has been mixed. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana both expressed surprise at Trump’s selection of Hegseth, while others — like Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa — said he’s “going to be a very strong secretary of defense.”

Hegseth has not publicly commented on his selection by President-elect Trump. If approved, he would oversee a defense budget of more than $800 billion with responsibility for more than a million active-duty troops, at a time when crises are raging in Ukraine, the Middle East and elsewhere. 

As a longtime public figure, Hegseth has been on-record taking hard stances against Iran and strongly supports Israel. During the first Trump administration, he also used his platform to urge pardons for military members accused in war crimes.

Recently, Hegseth also made headlines for criticizing some military policies, saying that he did not believe women should serve in labor-intensive combat roles and that diversity initiatives have undermined the military’s mission.

“Any general that was involved, general, admiral, whatever that was involved in any of the DEI woke s—, has got to go,” Hegseth said on the “The Shawn Ryan Show.”

Over the years at Fox News, Hegseth has proudly mentioned his Minnesota ties, including his trip in 2020 for a segment about his hometown roots.

“In that position of Secretary of Defense, he’ll probably spend some time in Forest Lake as a guest speaker. Those things are important for a community,” Bob Dettmer said. “It’s not a big community but it’s a very, very family-oriented community.”