Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is aiming to widen the Republican majority on the Federal Communications Commission before Democrats take over control of the Senate in January 2027.
Just before the Republicans’ midterm loss, Cruz yesterday announced a November 10 nomination hearing for Trump’s FCC nominee, Danielle Thumann Severs. In his final two months as chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, Cruz seems set on moving the Thumann Severs nomination to a full vote of the Senate.
Confirming Thumann Severs would give Republicans an unusual 3-1 advantage on the FCC. That could become a 3-0 advantage at the end of 2027 because FCC Democrat Anna Gomez would have to leave the commission at that time if Trump does not agree to renominate her.
Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) recently warned that federal law prohibits an all-Republican FCC and that “any action taken by a partisan FCC could be overturned in court, based on the statutory history of the Communications Act.” Wyden wrote in a September 24 letter to Gomez, “Because the Communications Act sets a quorum at three members, there is speculation that the President intends to fire you once [Thumann Severs] is confirmed, attempting to run the agency with an all-Republican 3-0 panel.”
“Under an all-Republican commission, every single license renewal, equipment certification, spectrum transfer, or other delegated action would be legally defective, casting a cloud of crippling legal uncertainty over the entire communications industry,” Wyden wrote.
Every FCC commissioner must be nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. By tradition, the president nominates opposing-party commissioners based on recommendations from the opposing party’s Senate leaders.
The bipartisan process has ensured that the FCC’s makeup complies with US law, but Trump hasn’t followed the tradition in his second term. He has failed to nominate a Democrat to the other empty FCC seat and has not renominated Gomez so she can continue past 2027.
