Maria Cantwell

Democrats said they will object if Republicans seek to advance President Donald Trump ’s GOP pick for the Federal Communications Commission without any attempt at bipartisan balance.

“That will be a problem,” Senate Commerce ranking member Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) told POLITICO on Friday. “We want pairing.”

Trump ’s nomination Friday of Danielle Thumann Severs for an open seat came without any announcements about filling the FCC’s other vacancy, which traditionally would go to a Democrat, or renominating Democratic Commissioner Anna Gomez .

Thumann Severs, a longtime aide to FCC Chair Brendan Carr , will have to clear the Senate Commerce Committee, where complaints from Cantwell and other Democrats will be front and center.

“If President Trump wants to fill these positions, he should do them in a bipartisan way,” Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), the top Democrat on Commerce’s telecom subcommittee, told POLITICO. “I would certainly hope my Republican colleagues on the committee want to see some semblance of balance as well. Because who’s going to be the next president?”

Thumann Severs will face a tight legislative calendar given the looming midterm elections and the meager days left in the session, although Republicans have fast-tracked FCC nominees in less time before.

And any FCC nomination is likely to encounter tough political debates given Carr ’s aggressive media oversight agenda, which prompted Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.) to accuse the commission this week of “getting into the foothills of violating the First Amendment.”

Why it matters: Carr ’s quorum could be at stake, given rules requiring at least three members to easily convene meetings and hold agency votes. The FCC has a 2-1 Republican majority, with two vacant seats.

Gomez ’s term recently lapsed, beginning a holdover period in which she could remain on the commission through the end of 2027. It’s not clear whether Trump , who has shattered multiple norms in his second term, even intends to fill Democratic seats.

Asked how quickly the Senate might process Thumann Severs, Commerce Chair Ted Cruz (R-Texas) demurred: “I don’t know. We will assess the nomination on its merits.”

For decades, senators sought to bundle GOP and Democratic nominees to speed the confirmation process for multi-member bodies. Senate Majority Leader John Thune told POLITICO last summer he was urging the White House to fill Democratic seats, even as Trump was firing Democratic officials at several agencies,

Cantwell harkened back to that bipartisan spirit Friday.

“Where’s the Democrat?” she said when asked about Thumann Severs’ nomination. “Where’s the Democrats? Democrats, Democrats, Democrats.”

But the norms are changing, fueling uncertainty around how the Senate may proceed, telecom subcommittee Chair Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) said. “We’ve got two vacancies, a Republican and a Democrat, and in the past, we’ve always been, I think, very cognizant of the fact that we should move two at once,” she said.

Asked about a possible renomination for Gomez , Fischer deferred to Trump : “I’ve had a good relationship with her. … We’ll see — it’s up to the president.”

What’s next: Thumann Severs will probably face a confirmation hearing before Senate Commerce, likely to be scheduled in September. But Republican leadership would have little spare time to advance her.

She is a known quantity to many figures in Washington, at least, after serving for several years as an aide to Carr . Several telecom and media industry trade associations issued statements on Friday lauding her qualifications as a senior attorney.

Still, senators of both parties may have questions about what her confirmation might mean for Carr ’s agenda, particularly amid reservations about whether he is overstepping the First Amendment.

Luján said Trump ’s interest may really be about empowering Carr .

“ Brendan Carr just wants to make all the decisions there, and now he wants his own staff to be in the commission,” Luján said. “I don’t even know that that commissioner would speak up against him or just go along with him.”