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FEC begins new chapter with Trainor at the helm

Federal Election Commissioner Chairman Trey Trainor

Three years after being nominated to the FEC, Republican Trey Trainor was finally confirmed by the Senate last month.

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Sara Swann
By Sara SwannJun 18, 2020
Sara Swann

As a staff writer, Sara covers a variety of democracy reform issues, including voting rights, money in politics, gerrymandering and civic education. Prior to joining The Fulcrum in May 2019, Sara reported on local government on Maryland's Eastern Shore for the USA Today network. She is a native West Virginian and a graduate of Syracuse University.

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The Federal Election Commission is back in business with a restored quorum and Republican Trey Trainor at the helm. Now all it needs is unanimity among its partisan commissioners.

Trainor was named chairman during the agency's public meeting on Thursday — its first since August 2019. Each commissioner is only intended to serve as chairman once during their six-year term, and since the other three members have already done so multiple times, the role went to Trainor.

His addition to the agency has not been without criticism. Since Trainor was first nominated to the FEC by President Trump in 2017, Democrats and good-government groupshave been opposed to his confirmation due to his deregulatory approach to campaign finance laws.

"I don't know if that's a blessing or a curse to be the new guy and then be responsible," Trainor said after he was named chairman Thursday.

Over the 262-day period without a quorum, cases piled up on the FEC's docket. At the end of March, the agency reported it had 333 cases pending. Of those, 160 are awaiting a vote from the commission and 90 are approaching the five-year statute of limitations.

But good-government groups have raised concerns about the FEC's ability to get through this huge backlog of cases due to the likelihood of partisan deadlocks. With only four commissioners, unanimous agreement will be required to do anything of consequence. And the addition of Trainor once again creates a partisan split, as he will likely side with fellow conservative Caroline Hunter.

Before joining the FEC, Trainor worked as an attorney in Texas. He also worked for Trump's 2016 campaign and the Texas Republican Party. When serving as the lawyer for a conservative lobbying group, he fought the Texas Ethics Commission over donor disclosure requirements.

Trainor's nomination to the FEC was in limbo for three years until the Senate finally confirmed him on May 19. While his nomination was pending, Commissioner Matthew Petersen resigned, leaving the FEC one member short of a quorum and unable to carry out its watchdog duties.


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Texas Is Cross-Referencing Its List of Potential Noncitizen Voters With Driver’s License Records

Texas Department of Public Safety Region II Headquarters on Oct. 1, 2025 in Houston. The state is using DPS records to cross-check a list of registered voters it flagged as potential noncitizens using a federal database.

Antranik Tavitian for The Texas Tribune

Texas Is Cross-Referencing Its List of Potential Noncitizen Voters With Driver’s License Records

The Texas Secretary of State’s Office is now checking whether 2,724 registered voters it flagged as potential noncitizens may have already provided proof of citizenship to the Texas Department of Public Safety, elections division director Christina Adkins said during a meeting with county election administrators earlier this month. That check comes after county elections officials found the federal database used to generate the list flagged some voters who had already given citizenship documentation to DPS when they registered to vote.

Texas officials in October sent counties the list of potential noncitizens generated by checking the state’s voter roll of more than 18 million registered voters against a federal database used to verify citizenship. Soon after the state released the list, counties began to investigate the flagged registrants and mail notices asking them to provide documented proof of citizenship.

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The American Experiment at the Brink Due To Minority Rule

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The challenge for continuing the American Experiment is recovering from the "Second Gilded Age" (1980s to the present). As of early 2026, the U.S. national debt is 122% to 125% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This situation has been exacerbated since 2000, when the U.S. national debt as a percentage of GDP was 33% to 35%. Americans can attribute this worsening situation to two non-popular vote presidents, Bush-43 and Trump-45. Directly, during their terms, and indirectly, with the aftermath of the 2008 Great recession and the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 1894, toward the end of the 19th century “Gilded Age," the U.S. national debt was approximately 7% of gross domestic product GDP.

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California Voters Don’t Like Either Party. Good Thing the Primary Doesn’t Belong to The Parties.

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