What To Know About Mark Meadows' Wife, Debbie
Former U.S. Congressman Mark Meadows came into the limelight in 2020 when he became the 29th Chief of Staff under Donald Trump. This appointment came three years after Trump's administration following the former Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney's appointment to the special envoy for Northern Ireland. Just a year later, Mark Meadows' old texts landed him in hot water as they revealed his involvement in the Capitol riot. The public scrutiny led to questions about Mark's personal life, including his wife and high school sweetheart, Debbie Meadows.
Debbie was born and raised in Florida. She attended Brandon High School, where she met and began dating Mark. However, the couple eventually parted ways with their separate college choices. Debbie went on to attend the University of South Florida, and Mark, who initially picked Florida State University, later joined her at South Florida.
Mark and Debbie rekindled their relationship and tied the knot in 1979, relocating to North Carolina. During her husband's time in the White House, she was a known Republican and an avid Trump supporter. She notably founded the Right Women Political Action Committee before the 2020 U.S. presidential election. But beyond this, Debbie has been a key figure in Mark's political journey.
Debbie and Mark Meadows started their first businesses together
After Mark and Debbie Meadows moved to Highlands in North Carolina in 1986, Debbie began a small sandwich shop called Aunty D's Place. It took several months for the small business to catch on to the local crowd, but with her tenacity and Mark's help, the couple sold it profitably by its third year.
This was the break they needed to pay off their debts and venture into real estate. Debbie and Mark started Meadows Mountain Realty, a real estate brokerage firm, with the proceeds from their sale. His political interest and success as a real estate businessman led him to attend a North Carolina precinct meeting.
With Debbie's support, he held the role of fundraiser and chairman of the Macon County Republican Party from 2001 to 2002. As Mark's political career and popularity soared, Debbie took conscious steps to keep her life private. She has an alias as Debra, no publicly-known social media accounts, and doesn't have a Wikipedia page. This is clearly intentional, considering her significant amount of background work funding Republican political candidates through the Right Women Political Action Committee.
Debbie Meadows was involved in a voter's address scandal in 2020
While Debbie Meadows managed to keep her personal life out of the public eye, Mark Meadows' appointment as Trump's Chief of Staff and the 2020 elections attracted bad press to their family. The Washington Post reported that Debbie and Mark Meadows had registered a mobile home in North Carolina as their residential address on their voter registration forms on September 19, 2020. However, the mobile home owner revealed that the Meadows rented the home for about two months, and Debbie had been to the place once or twice to sleep over (per The New Yorker).
The New Yorker found no evidence that Mark had ever been there. At the time, the couple was living in their condo in Virginia. This launched a voter fraud investigation against the couple, revealing that Mark was registered in three states simultaneously: North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. There was also speculation that they had intended to vote in North Carolina to run for a seat in the Senate. However, the charges against Mark and Debbie were ultimately dropped.