Vance Adviser Seen as a Potential Pick for Trump FTC

Gail Slater, an economic adviser to Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, is in consideration to serve as FTC chair if Donald Trump becomes president again, but the two sitting Republican commissioners will likely get first consideration, former FTC and White House officials told us in interviews this week.

The officials said Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris is weighing options beyond FTC Chair Lina Khan as she tries balancing the interests of progressive and pro-business Democrats. Harris has not commented on choosing an FTC chair.

Billionaire Democratic donors Barry Diller and Reid Hoffman said in July that Harris should pick a new chair. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., a champion of Khan’s aggressive policy agenda, said that would be a “terrible” decision. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has also recently supported Khan.

Slater, who advised the Trump White House on tech and telecom policy and now advises Vance, would be in consideration if Trump wins the election. He would need to nominate another commissioner should he choose Commissioner Melissa Holyoak or Commissioner Andrew Ferguson as chair.

The Trump campaign on Wednesday said the former president picked a transition leadership group to “initiate the process of preparing for what comes after the election.” Formal discussion of who will serve is “premature,” the campaign said. “President Trump will choose the best people for his Cabinet to undo all the damage dangerously liberal Kamala Harris has done to our country.”

The Harris campaign didn’t comment Wednesday. The FTC declined comment on Khan’s future.

Knowledge of the agency's current landscape will be important for either the Harris or Trump team when choosing, officials said. The sitting commissioners would be “likely choices” for Trump, said a former FTC official who worked in the Obama and Trump administrations. But Slater’s connection to Vance and her policy background mean she would get consideration, the former official added.

Progressives would prefer extending Khan, but Harris’ silence likely means she’s considering alternatives, the ex-official said. Khan is “controversial even within her own party,” a former Trump White House official told us. She’s a “progressive darling,” but Wall Street Democrats have issues with her “over-enforcement.”

Khan’s enforcement record would factor into Harris’ choice, said Diana Moss, competition policy director and vice president at Progressive Policy Institute. Moss, who identifies as center-left, issued a report in March showing the Biden administration’s antitrust litigation win rate under Khan and DOJ Antitrust Division Chief Jonathan Kanter declined steeply from President Barack Obama's administration, and even the Trump administration. The Obama administration peaked around 80%, while the Biden administration wins around 50%. The historic average is about 65%, said Moss.

Khan has shown a willingness for “strong enforcement,” but “at some point you have to show that it is a successful program, and we have not seen that yet,” said Moss. It can take “years” to “reverse” bad legal precedent established in losing cases, she said: That would be a consideration for Harris, along with the contention that Khan and Kanter have focused on the tech industry at the expense of other sectors. If Harris were to move on from Khan, look for her to nominate a chair who can recognize cases with a “high probability of a government win,” said Moss: A Harris administration would choose a “pro-enforcement” chair with a program focused on “winnable, smart cases that cover the entire spectrum of the economy.”

One official noted that Joe Simons, Trump’s pick for FTC chair in 2018, served as President George W. Bush’s Competition Bureau director from 2001 to 2003. Officials agreed the position has become higher-profile under Khan, though some argue that trend started with the Obama administration. Officials said populist Republicans would strongly influence any Trump pick. They noted that Ferguson and Holyoak have been outspoken in their dissents and criticisms of Khan’s enforcement decisions. Ferguson more closely aligns with the populist wing, two former Republican officials said.