Senate Democrats came out against President Trump's plan to fill an open Federal Communications Commission seat with Danielle Thumann Severs, a senior counsel to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr. They also said they intend to launch probes of Carr next year.
The objections came at the Senate Commerce Committee's nomination hearing for Thumann Severs, an attorney. Democrats criticized Republicans for moving to confirm a commissioner during the lame-duck period, the stretch after an election when the outgoing majority still holds power. Democrats take control of Congress in January 2027.
"After the American people last week overwhelmingly rejected the MAGA agenda, there is no justification for this committee to advance partisan nominees during the lame-duck period," Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said at the hearing. Democrats also pressed Thumann Severs on whether she supports Carr's attacks on TV broadcasters.
That last line of questioning is the one to watch. A nominee who works directly for the chairman is not a neutral new voice by default, so her views on his broadcaster campaign are effectively a forecast of how a new seat would be used. Democrats are treating the nomination as a referendum on Carr's tenure, not just a staffing decision.
The timing adds a wrinkle. Confirmation before January would seat a commissioner who is a former aide to the chairman, just as the incoming majority prepares its investigations of him. Whether those probes reach the people Carr has surrounded himself with is an open question.