Ted Cruz aims to stack FCC with Republicans before Democrats take Senate control

Senator Ted Cruz is seeking to advance President Donald Trump’s nominee Danielle Thumann Severs to the FCC before Democrats take control of the Senate in January 2027. If confirmed, she would leave Republicans with a 3-1 advantage on the commission, intensifying concerns about its political balance and the legal standing of its decisions.

Cruz has scheduled a nomination hearing for 10 November, after an earlier hearing was postponed during Thumann Severs’s maternity leave. The FCC needs three members for a quorum, and federal law limits how many commissioners may belong to one party; Senator Ron Wyden says an all-Republican panel could face legal challenges. Trump has not nominated a Democrat for the other vacant seat or agreed to renominate Democratic commissioner Anna Gomez, whose term ends in 2027. Democrats have called for Republican and Democratic nominees to be considered together.