President Biden’s nominee to the FCC, GiGi Sohn, is withdrawing her nomination. Her 16-month battle in the Senate to be confirmed comes to an end and leaves the FCC with 4 members; 2 Democrats and 2 Republicans.
In a statement Sohn said she was withdrawing because of attacks on her record as an advocate that she said came from “legions of cable and media industry lobbyists, their bought-and-paid-for surrogates, and dark money political groups. “It is a sad day for our country and our democracy when dominant industries, with assistance from unlimited dark money, get to choose their regulators.”
While the NAB didn’t outright oppose Sohn’s nomination, the organization clearly didn’t cheer for her either. There was a major concern with Sohn’s involvement with a now-defunct streaming service called Locast and they wanted her to submit an amended ethics agreement that addressed “this clear and troubling conflict.”
Sohn never really had a clear path to confirmation since the day she was nominated. Republicans on the Senate Commerce Committee said she was too partisan and when Democratic Senator Joe Manchin said Tuesday he would vote against her the nomination was dead in the water.
The Commission has had 4 Commissioners since President Biden took office.
