Hispanic Caucus Urges Biden to Pick 'Qualified Latino' for FCC Vacancy, Sans Endorsement

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chair Nanette Barragan, D-Calif., and 31 other caucus members urged President Joe Biden Wednesday to nominate “a qualified Latino” to the vacant fifth FCC seat after Gigi Sohn’s recent withdrawal from consideration as nominee (see 2303070082). CHC members didn’t mention any preferred candidates, despite communications sector lobbyists’ chatter that former acting NTIA Administrator Anna Gomez, ex-Wiley, and National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts President Felix Sanchez were under consideration for an endorsement (see 2303130001). CHC member and Senate Communications Subcommittee Chairman Ben Ray Lujan, D-Calif., told us he plans to recommend some potential contenders to the White House amid thus-far unfulfilled hopes the Biden administration will pivot quickly to name a candidate to replace Sohn.

“Latino inclusion in the leadership and workforce of the U.S. government is a foundational issue for all Americans -- especially for the federal agency that regulates interstate and international communications by radio, television, wire, satellite, and cable,” the CHC members said in a letter to Biden. “There has not been a Latino FCC Commissioner for over two decades, and you must ensure that Latinos are not excluded from fully participating in the future of telecommunications. The CHC understands that” the Biden administration “is committed to building the most diverse administration in American history … and nominating a Latino to the FCC is a step towards that legacy.” The last person to represent the Latino community on the commission, Gloria Tristani, left in September 2001 (see 0109110015).

“I’ll be sending some names for consideration” for the vacant FCC seat and “I’m hopeful … that we get a nomination soon,” Lujan said: “There’s pending deadlines in front of us again” for potential reconfirmation of sitting Commissioners Brendan Carr and Geoffrey Starks before the end of the current presidential administration Jan. 20, 2025, so “this needs to get dealt with swiftly.” He hasn’t gotten any indication from the White House what its timeline will be for naming a new nominee to replace Sohn or renominating Carr and Starks. The White House, which hadn’t formally withdrawn Sohn’s nomination as of Thursday, didn’t comment.

Lujan is casting a wide net of potential contenders he would back to replace Sohn but isn’t naming names just yet. “I want the administration to know that there’s qualified individuals from across the country in this space,” Lujan said: “There’s some great” Senate Commerce Committee staff and some of his own aides who “would make a great commissioner,” along with people “who are even working at the commission right now, in addition to those from media and from communications entities” and some in the nonprofit space.

Senate Commerce Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us she hasn’t decided whether she will also endorse any particular contenders for the FCC vacancy. “We haven’t thought about that yet,” she said: Whoever Biden selects should reflect the administration’s “viewpoint about where they’d like to see the FCC go in the future.”

Names of many potential contenders are continuing to circulate, including Gomez and NASA Chief of Staff Susie Perez Quinn, but there’s still no clear front-runner for the position, lobbyists said. They noted other names that have circulated more recently include Narda Jones, chief of staff to FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel, and Joseph Wender, Treasury Department Capital Projects Fund director. Jones used to be White House Office of Science and Technology Policy legislative affairs director and an aide to both Cantwell and Senate Commerce Democrats (see 2204040059). Wender was previously a top aide to Senate Commerce member Ed Markey, D-Mass.

“It seems like some of the eagerness” for the Biden administration to quickly name a new FCC nominee “has dissipated,” said Public Knowledge Government Affairs Director Greg Guice. “I’m not hearing folks have those conversations at the pace I was hearing right after the withdrawal” earlier this month. “I hear a thousand different names” floated for the nomination, said New Street’s Blair Levin.