A GOP seat at the FCC is headed for a Senate hearing while the balance of Congress shifts blue. The Senate Commerce Committee has rescheduled the initial hearing for Republican nominee Danielle Thumann Severs while Democrats seek a balanced commission.
The hearing is set for Tuesday, November 10, at 10:30a ET, with three other nominations also on the agenda. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), the Senate Commerce Committee’s chairman, announced it on Election Day.
Severs is senior counsel to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr. President Trump nominated her in August to a five-year term dating from July 1, 2024. If confirmed, she would fill one of two seats vacant since Republican Nathan Simington and Democrat Geoffrey Starks left in June 2025, and join Carr and Commissioner Olivia Trusty as a third Republican.
A hearing the committee set for September 17 was previously postponed.
Meanwhile, Anna Gomez, the commission’s lone Democrat, has remained in holdover status since her term expired June 30. House Energy and Commerce Committee Democrats asked Senate leaders in an October 29 letter to pair any new Republican nomination with Gomez’s renomination. Some believe Trump might fire her if Severs is confirmed, in line with a June Supreme Court ruling in June that the president can remove independent agency commissioners without cause.
If Republicans hope to dodge returning Gomez to her FCC seat, they will have to act quickly. With Democrats winning control of both the House and Senate in the midterm elections, the GOP will lose the majority it needs to easily pass one of its own come January.
