New Chair Takes Over a Paralyzed Federal Election Commission

The Federal Election Commission officially has a new chair.

Democrat Shana Broussard, who was nominated to the commission in 2020 by President Donald Trump, formally became FEC chair on Tuesday, two months after her fellow commissioners elected her to the position. It’s Broussard’s second time in the role; she previously chaired the commission in 2021.

Broussard is the first permanent chair at the FEC since February, when Trump abruptly removed longtime commissioner and then-Chair Ellen Weintraub from the agency. Since then, Republican Commissioner Trey Trainor has served as the commission’s acting chair.

Broussard is beginning her tenure as chair at a particularly difficult moment for the FEC. The six-person commission has seen its membership cut in half since the beginning of the year. 

Republican former Commissioner Sean Cooksey resigned in January to take a job in Vice President JD Vance’s office and Trump ousted Weintraub a month later. Republican now-former Commissioner Allen Dickerson then resigned from the agency in April – on the same day Broussard was elected chair – when his term in office expired. 

The resignations and Weintraub’s firing has left the FEC one commissioner shy of the four-member quorum it needs to hold meetings, issue advisory opinions and take enforcement actions. Trump has yet to nominate replacements for any of the vacancies, and it’s unclear when he might do so. Even then, any nominee would have to be confirmed by the Senate before taking office.

Despite its lack of a quorum, the agency has continued to collect, process and post campaign finance disclosure and transaction information.

A ‘Challenging Time’ for the FEC

In a statement on Tuesday, Broussard acknowledged that it is a “challenging time” for the FEC, but insisted that she is prepared to tackle the growing backlog of campaign finance enforcement matters once the commission’s quorum is restored. 

According to Broussard, there were 161 pending enforcement matters before the FEC as of April – far fewer than the 452 on the docket in 2021, when Broussard first became chair. 

“As money in federal elections increases, so does our agency’s responsiveness,” Broussard said. “The 2024 election cycle set numerous records, both in terms of the money raised and spent on federal elections and the amount of financial activity reported to the Commission. Our disclosure work has not stopped: during the first quarter of 2025, over 3,000 committees reported transactions totaling over $700 million of financial activity.”

“I am ready to tackle any backlogged matters if a quorum is restored before the end of this year,” she added. 

No Timeline for Filling Vacancies

Trump has yet to name nominees for any of the three vacancies at the FEC, and the White House hasn’t offered a timeline for when he might do so. A spokesperson for the White House did not respond to C&E’s request for comment on Wednesday.

Still, the Trump administration has shown little interest in enforcing campaign finance laws and has, in fact, signaled that certain regulations should be tossed out. 

The Justice Department notified the Supreme Court last month that it would not defend current restrictions on coordinated party spending in a case that the high court is expected to hear later this year. 

Likewise, the FEC – at the direction of the Trump administration – has said that it agrees with the plaintiffs in that case, which argues that the existing limits on how much party committees can spend in coordination with federal candidates violates First Amendment free speech rights.

The Democratic National Committee and its associated groups have said that they will defend the current law before the court.