Inside the meteoric political rise of Sean Duffy’s son-in-law Michael Alfonso: Truth about ‘swamp’ ties amid questions about ‘credentials’… as 26-year-old prepares to become youngest congressman

Michael Alfonso, 26, won election to represent a Wisconsin district and is set to become the youngest member of the 120th Congress when sworn in on 3 January. His victory has drawn attention to his family ties: his father-in-law is Sean Duffy, now Donald Trump’s transportation secretary and a former congressman who strongly backed the campaign.

Duffy spent $1 million from his former congressional funds supporting Alfonso, who has rejected accusations of nepotism, saying he would not apologise for marrying his middle-school sweetheart. The article traces Duffy and Rachel Campos-Duffy’s public profile from reality television to politics and describes their large family; Alfonso is married to their daughter. Maxwell Frost was younger than Alfonso on election day when he won his seat in 2022.