A Senate committee is nearly out of time ahead of Election Day to consider two Republicans nominated for seats on the bipartisan Federal Election Commission — leaving the crippled campaign finance regulator without its law enforcement and regulatory powers during the midterms’ final stretch.
“Paperwork issues” and the monthslong medical absence of Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Republican chair of the Senate Rules Committee, delayed efforts to conduct a hearing for Andrew Woodson, a lawyer at Wiley Rein, and Ashley Stow, who previously worked with former FEC Commissioner Trey Trainor.
While many thought McConnell’s return to the Senate this week would move the process forward, the Senate, which is due to go on recess in early October, has yet to schedule a committee hearing that could lead to the agency regaining its minimum quorum of four commissioners. A vote of the full Senate is also necessary to confirm the nominees.
“I’ll be sure to let you know when I have an update,” David Popp, a spokesperson for McConnell, told The Washington Sun. Popp did not directly address questions about the likelihood of a hearing before the election or whether the paperwork issue had been resolved.
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Sen. Alex Padilla of California, the Democratic vice chair of the committee, told The Sun on Tuesday that it’s “not clear” if there will be a hearing before the election.
Padilla also said he had not yet met with either nominee and that the committee should be considering both Democratic and Republican nominees. By law, no more than three of the FEC’s six commissioners may belong to the same political party. There are currently two Democrats on the committee and four seats that are vacant.
Both Democrats, Chair Shana Broussard and Commissioner Dara Lindenbaum, have for months asked Congress to get the FEC back on track. At least four commissioners must be present to even consider advancing campaign finance investigations, finalizing audits, issuing penalties, approving rules, offering formal legal advice and conducting public meetings.
But since May 1, 2025, the FEC has not had enough commissioners to form a quorum of four.
During that time, the FEC’s enforcement backlog has ballooned to 307 cases, Broussard said on Bluesky on Sept. 1.
Broussard declined to comment.
The Sun first reported in July 2025 that congressional Republicans had recommended Woodson and Stow to President Donald Trump, who alone may nominate FEC commissioner candidates. But it took Trump more than eight months to nominate the two attorneys.
Trump nominated Woodson and Stow on Feb. 11 to fill two of the four vacancies on the commission. Their nominations then languished, and the FEC has continued to effectively function strictly as a campaign finance records publishing house.
“The White House expects the swift confirmation of all of President Trump’s highly-qualified nominees, and will continue to uphold our nation’s laws,” the White House wrote in a statement Wednesday.
Some campaign finance watchdogs and lawyers, including former Republican commissioners, are particularly frustrated about the agency’s inability to interpret and enforce campaign finance laws in the lead-up to the 2026 election.
With the FEC unable to act, private organizations can sue the FEC for “right of action,” which lets them bring cases directly against political campaigns and committees they allege have run afoul of federal campaign finance laws.
Others dismissed concerns about the missing “cop on the beat,” saying it is unlikely the agency would have been able to act on new complaints until after the election. Under the best of circumstances, it often takes the FEC months, and sometimes years, to resolve campaign finance disputes.
This is the third time since 2019 the FEC has not had enough commissioners to execute its high-level duties, and by far the longest. Each de facto FEC shutdown has occurred while Trump was president.
Even if the Senate confirms Woodson and Stow, the commission could easily lose a quorum — again — if it loses just one commissioner.
Trump could nominate two additional commissioners, but has not. The Sun reported in summer 2025 that Democrats had recommended Jonathan Peterson, an attorney at the Elias Law Group, as a commissioner candidate.
Meanwhile, budget cuts and staffing shortages also threaten the FEC’s ability to clear through a backlog of enforcement matters once the commission has a quorum again.
In interviews with The Sun, former FEC commissioners and practitioners have questioned Trump and Congress’ desire to empower the commission to enforce and interpret campaign finance law at any level.
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