Activists Urging Delay In Senate Hearing For FCC Nominee

Nominee Danielle Severs

Civil rights and consumer groups have asked Senate Commerce Committee leaders to postpone confirmation hearings for Republican FCC nominee Danielle Thumann Severs until President Trump also nominates a Democrat, warning that a one-sided confirmation would lock in a 3-1 Republican majority and weaken the agency’s independence.

In a Sept. 15 letter to Chairman Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Ranking Member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), the groups said the committee should move Thumann Severs only alongside a renomination of Democratic Commissioner Anna Gomez. 

Past presidents have typically paired Republican and Democratic FCC nominees. Trump has not yet named a Democrat.

Gomez’s term ended June 30, 2026, but she can remain until the end of 2027 or until the Senate confirms a successor. Confirming Thumann Severs alone would give Republicans a 3-1 edge on the five-member commission.

The letter argues that pairing nominees is a democratic norm meant to preserve independent judgment at agencies that are supposed to follow statute, not presidential will. Signatories said recent dismissals of officials at other agencies without cause raise doubts about whether Senate confirmation still has meaning.

They also said a fully staffed FCC is needed as a check on Chairman Brendan Carr. The groups cited earlier complaints from a Dec. 17, 2025 letter—pressure on broadcasters, rollback of media-diversity rules, pressure on companies over DEI programs, and support for limits on state AI regulation—and said Carr has since continued to threaten broadcasters and cut programs such as Lifeline and E-Rate. They described Gomez as a consistent critic of those moves.

The letter was signed by The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the American Library Association, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-AAJC, the Clearinghouse on Women’s Issues, Common Cause, the Communications Workers of America, the Feminist Majority Foundation, the Hispanic Federation, HTTP, LULAC, MMTC, the National Action Network, the National Hispanic Media Coalition, the National Urban League, UnidosUS, and the United Church of Christ Media Justice Ministry.