--- title: "Carr’s FCC Counsel Faces Democrats Who Get the Gavels in January and Want Carr" description: "Danielle Thumann Severs would give the FCC a third Republican, and that would make its lone Democrat no longer needed for a quorum" author: "Nate Ledger" published: 2026-11-10T21:55:26Z modified: 2026-11-11T06:18:29Z url: https://rews.cc/a/carr-s-fcc-counsel-faces-democrats-who-get-the-gavels-in-jan-96ae7b language: en tags: ["fcc", "trump", "regulation", "politics", "media", "us"] publisher: "Rews (https://rews.cc)" --- # Carr’s FCC Counsel Faces Democrats Who Get the Gavels in January and Want Carr *Danielle Thumann Severs would give the FCC a third Republican, and that would make its lone Democrat no longer needed for a quorum* By Nate Ledger · November 10, 2026 · https://rews.cc/a/carr-s-fcc-counsel-faces-democrats-who-get-the-gavels-in-jan-96ae7b ## In brief - FCC nominee Danielle Thumann Severs, Chairman Brendan Carr’s senior counsel, had her Senate Commerce hearing on November 10, 2026 - Her confirmation would give Republicans a 3-1 FCC majority, so Democrat Anna Gomez would no longer be needed for a quorum - Asked about Carr’s threats over Jimmy Kimmel, she said ‘Those were his words’ and that she had not worked on the matter - She would not say whether the FCC has the authority to eliminate the $2 billion-a-year E-Rate program - Sen. Luján said Democrats will call Carr to testify at least monthly and use subpoenas once they take control in January Here is a fact about the Federal Communications Commission that matters more than it sounds. Under the Communications Act, [three commissioners make a quorum](https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/47/154). Without a quorum the agency can’t do its business. It has five seats, and three of them are filled right now: Chairman Brendan Carr, his fellow Republican Olivia Trusty and one Democrat, Anna Gomez. So Gomez is holding up the building. Imagine you are a president who would like an FCC with no Democrats on it. Your problem with firing her is not mainly political. It’s arithmetic. Which brings us to Danielle Thumann Severs. She is Carr’s senior counsel, and President Trump has nominated her to the empty Republican seat that Nathan Simington used to hold. On Tuesday she sat before the Senate Commerce Committee, and [as Jon Brodkin reported for Ars Technica](https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/11/democrats-oppose-plan-to-stack-fcc-with-republicans-plan-probes-of-chairman-carr/), the Democrats there spent most of the hearing on her boss. The committee’s chairman, Ted Cruz, wants her confirmed before Republicans give up the Senate in January, which is [a move rews has covered before](https://rews.cc/a/with-two-months-left-in-the-chair-ted-cruz-moves-to-tilt-the-21d255). Democrats won both chambers last week and would rather he waited. “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,” said Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.). ## Counting to three Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) laid out how it works. The law caps any one party’s share of FCC seats at [the smallest number that makes a majority](https://www.commerce.senate.gov/press/dem/release/senator-hickenlooper-warns-of-the-dangers-of-an-fcc-with-only-republican-commissioners/). With five seats, that’s three. A 3-1 commission is legal, and so is a 3-0 one. The cap limits how many Republicans can sit on the FCC. It does nothing to guarantee that any Democrats do. For now the Republicans have two seats, Gomez makes the quorum, and that protects her in practice if not on paper. Add a third Republican and the protection is gone. “If today’s nominee is confirmed, President Trump could then fire Commissioner Gomez and have an FCC with no Democratic voice at all,” Hickenlooper said. ![A red hand pulls a blue support from beneath a platform holding a navy radio tower, against a yellow background.](https://rews.cc/img/429aea86609e13c49df4c72c2eda0fde4ecf5f0c.webp) The usual fix is a custom, not a law. “For many decades, the Senate has paired commission nominees: A Republican and a Democrat moving together,” Hickenlooper said. That hasn’t happened here. Even if nobody fires Gomez, she would have to leave at the end of 2027 unless she gets another term. The FCC normally runs 3-2. This nomination would make it 3-1, and 3-0 would be one firing away. Hickenlooper also had a question about independence. “Ms. Thumann Severs, your career has largely been spent serving Brendan Carr,” he said, listing her current job as his senior counsel and her earlier one as his legal advisor, with “near-daily meetings with Chairman Carr” spent working to “advance his agenda, amplify his messaging.” That made it a slightly odd job interview. She was being asked whether she would stand up to Carr while she still works for him. Any distance she put between them in front of the committee, she would presumably have to live with at the office the next morning. ## His words, not hers “Do you support Chairman Carr’s illegal campaign to remove Jimmy Kimmel from the nation’s airwaves?” asked Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.). He was referring to last year, when Carr threatened ABC’s broadcast licenses over remarks Kimmel had made, and Disney, which owns ABC, then suspended Kimmel. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said back then, adding that Disney must “take action” on Kimmel “or there’s going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.” Thumann Severs said she hadn’t advised Carr on media matters, and she wouldn’t name a single policy where she disagrees with him. Asked about the Kimmel threat, she said: “Those were his words. They were not my words, and I have not advised him or worked with the chairman on these particular issues.” If confirmed, she said, she would decide things on “the facts and the law and the record.” ![Two headless figures in dark suits, one seated at a desk with a microphone and one standing, share a large blank speech bubble against blue.](https://rews.cc/img/f96f77986bb6a359c69214fa7f3735dc460406df.webp) Markey wasn’t satisfied. “Anyone seeking a seat on the Federal Communications Commission must be willing to stand up to such threats and to defend the First Amendment, and you’re not willing to do so here in your confirmation hearing,” he said. Then there’s ABC’s licenses, which Carr has called in for early review. Many see that as payback for the network’s news coverage and other shows. Officially, though, the review rests on a claim that Disney’s diversity, equity and inclusion practices discriminate. That is a handy way to dress it up, because a DEI investigation is not a coverage investigation, at least on paper. Thumann Severs told Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) that the FCC must investigate complaints “on the merits” and that “I don’t think a decision should be made purely based on someone’s discontent with the content being aired.” Note the word “purely.” As far as she knew from “publicly available material,” the licenses “were called for early renewal as part of an investigation into potential rule violations.” ## The $2 billion question Then there’s E-Rate, a $2 billion-a-year program Congress set up to get students and library visitors online. Carr has proposed scrapping or shrinking it. Thumann Severs helped draft the FCC’s notice asking for public comment on the program and on whether the agency has the power to change or end it. She wouldn’t say whether it does: “I can’t prejudge the open proceeding \[on E-Rate\] at the FCC right now.” Duckworth said the FCC can’t end the program without Congress. “We never directed the FCC to eliminate the program,” she said, and with gas, groceries and utilities getting pricier, “the last thing the FCC should be doing is making it harder for schools to stay connected.” Her verdict on the nominee: “I am not comfortable with your answers today.” ![Red scissors cut a navy cable rising from an open book, while its other end forms a loop and ends in a network plug against yellow.](https://rews.cc/img/3e81388164d3f52c5d2c84a8b372c45c3a88bf93.webp) Cruz was comfortable. He noted that ABC says the review “is actually in retaliation for the network’s programming,” and claimed that under Democratic administrations the FCC had turned its public interest standard against conservatives. Would she base licensing decisions on the law and the record and not use the FCC’s power “to pressure or punish a broadcaster for protected speech”? “Yes,” she said. ## Once a month, if not more Luján spent part of his time talking past the nominee to her boss. “I don’t think Chairman Carr is going to be around more than another three or four months because when we have the gavels in here, he will be here once a month,” he said. “And Mr. Carr, if you’re listening now, know you’re going to be in this body once a month, if not more, and in the House of Representatives as well, answering questions, and you don’t have the protection of the gavel any longer.” He promised “subpoena authorities that you have to respond to.” This comes after a run of Carr warnings to broadcasters, including [the one about “fake polls”](https://rews.cc/a/a-fake-pollster-confessed-and-the-fcc-chair-turned-it-into-a-ef2cfd). The timetable is short. Senators can submit written questions until Thursday, and the nominees have until November 16 to answer. After that she needs a committee vote and then a vote of the full Senate, all before January. That leaves an odd possibility for next year. Democrats could hold every gavel and subpoena in Congress while the FCC has no Democrats at all. The Communications Act has no problem with that. It only counts to three.