Linda Marie McMahon was born on October 4, 1948, in New Bern, North Carolina. She was an only child and grew up playing basketball and baseball. Raised in a conservative Baptist family, she later converted to Roman Catholicism. She attended New Bern High School and, shortly after graduation, became engaged to her future husband, Vincent McMahon.

In 1966, McMahon enrolled at East Carolina University, where she studied French. She initially intended to become a French teacher and earned a teaching certificate but never pursued teaching. After graduating, she worked as a paralegal at a corporate law firm while her husband bounced between jobs. The couple struggled financially and ultimately filed for bankruptcy in 1976.

In 1980, the McMahons founded Titan Sports and later acquired Capitol Wrestling Corporation, owned by Vince’s father. These ventures eventually evolved into WWE (World Wrestling Entertainment), and McMahon became CEO in 1997. She oversaw the company’s business operations, helping to transform WWE into an international empire and turning professional wrestling into a multi-billion-dollar industry. She served as CEO until 2009.

In 2009, McMahon left WWE to pursue a career in politics. That year, Governor M. Jodi Rell of Connecticut appointed McMahon to the Connecticut State Board of Education but she resigned a year later to launch the first of two unsuccessful campaigns for the U.S. Senate. She won the Republican primary in both campaigns but lost the general election to Richard Blumenthal in 2010 and to Chris Murphy in 2012.

McMahon supported Donald Trump in his 2016 presidential campaign, serving as a Connecticut delegate to the Republican National Convention and as a member of the RNC Rules Committee. After his victory, Trump nominated her to serve as Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA). However, McMahon served in this role for only two years before stepping down to lead America First Action, a super PAC backing Trump. Later, she became chair of the board for the America First Policy Institute, a think tank affiliated with Trump.

After the November 2024 presidential election, McMahon co-chaired President-elect Trump's transition team with Howard Lutnick. Trump nominated McMahon to serve as secretary of the Department of Education, a department he has suggested he wants to eliminate. The Senate confirmed her on March 3 in a 51–45 vote, and she was sworn into office that day. McMahon has publicly stated that her views on education align with Trump’s, emphasizing her desire "to send education back to the states and empower all parents to choose an excellent education for their children."