Washington, D.C., November 12, 2026—The Committee to Protect Journalists calls on the United States Senate to reject the nomination of Republican Danielle Thumann Severs to the Federal Communications Commission without a paired Democratic nominee.
“Americans trust the Federal Communications Commission to act as an independent, bipartisan agency that upholds the First Amendment,” said José Zamora, CPJ’s regional director for the Americas. “The Senate must ensure the FCC upholds that trust by not allowing a partisan nomination to move forward.”
During a Tuesday nomination hearing, Thumann Severs—currently a senior counsel to FCC Chairman Brendan Carr—was questioned about her ability to act separately from Carr, who has abandoned the FCC’s legacy of independence, enabled unprecedented media consolidation without Congressional authority, and retaliated against broadcasters over their content. Thumann Severs deflected questions about the FCC’s authority to punish broadcasters for news coverage.
The FCC must maintain a quorum of three members for commission-level actions. The current members include Carr, Republican Olivia Trusty, and Democrat Anna Gomez. If Thumann Severs is confirmed, an all-Republican majority could control the votes. Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden has warned that a one-party Commission could violate federal law and any actions it pursues could be overturned by the courts.
Twenty-one members of the House Committee of Energy and Commerce wrote to their Senate colleagues on October 29 to call for any nomination of a Republican Commissioner to be paired with a Democrat, which could include the renomination of Gomez. For decades, the president and Senate have agreed on paired nominations.
CPJ has documented a pattern of FCC actions that have violated press freedom in the current administration, and called for greater oversight in the next session of Congress.