Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Top Stories

Staff wants more people of color named to the FEC

Federal Election Commission

Employees at the dormant FEC say one of the three vacancies, at least, should be filled with only the second non-white commissioner ever.

Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images

In its 45-year history, the Federal Election Commission has had 31 commissioners — all but one of them white.

"Such homogenous senior leadership is not reflective of the diverse nation the FEC serves, and it is detrimental to the morale and effectiveness of the agency," more than five dozen agency staff members said in a letter Monday urging President Trump and Senate leaders to fix the problem.

They asked Trump to nominate and the Senate to confirm at least one person of color for the three vacancies on the commission, which has been essentially shut down for the past eight weeks for lack of a four-member quorum. That seems highly unlikely before the election, not only because partisan politics are intensified during the campaign but also because senators will be in town for only a few weeks before November.


Nonetheless, the unusual public complaint from the nonpartisan civil servants inside the ranks suggests just how beleaguered the government's principal campaign finance watchdog is these days — and how the nation's reckoning with systemic racism this year has taken root in most every corner of society.

This is the second time in a year the FEC has been unable to function for lack of a quorum. After Matthew Petersen resigned almost a year ago, the agency was in limbo for more than nine months until conservative Texas campaign finance lawyer Trey Trainor was confirmed in May. But fellow conservative Caroline Hunter resigned just a month later, leaving the FEC toothless once again.

The president immediately proposed as her replacement Allen Dickerson of the Institute for Free Speech, a campaign finance deregulation advocacy group, but the Senate has not touched the nomination. If he joined the panel, only one of the other two vacancies could be filled by a Republican. The law mandates a bipartisan split to make sure neither party can impose its campaign finance views on the other.

But political affiliation is not the only important factor to consider when choosing new commissioners, the 66 staff members — about one-fifth of the FEC workforce — wrote in the letter. Proper enforcement of campaign finance laws is informed not only by commissioners' legal training, they said, but also the members' different life experiences and perspectives.

"By excluding members of a wide swath of our country's population, the commission loses out on the perspectives of people from diverse communities," the letter states. "We make this call not to tip the balance toward any party or potential nominee but instead to rectify a historical blindness to the benefits commissioners of diverse backgrounds and experiences can bring."

While not named in the letter, Shana Broussard, a senior attorney at the FEC since 2015, would be a fine starting point to diversify the commission as its first Black member. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, the top Democrat on the committee that oversees the agency, have called for her nomination.

The only non-white member in FEC history was Ann Ravel, whose mother is Brazilian. She was a commissioner from 2013 to 2017 and is now running as a Democrat for the state Senate in California.

The letter was an outgrowth of a workshop on diversity, equity and inclusion the agency staff held this summer.

Read More

Could Trump’s campaign against the media come back to bite conservatives?

US President Donald Trump reacts next to Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk, after speaking at the public memorial service for right-wing activist Charlie Kirk at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, on September 21, 2025.

(Photo by Mandel NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Could Trump’s campaign against the media come back to bite conservatives?

In the wake of Jimmy Kimmel’sapparently temporary— suspension from late-night TV, a (tragically small) number of prominent conservatives and Republicans have taken exception to the Trump administration’s comfort with “jawboning” critics into submission.

Sen. Ted Cruz condemned the administration’s “mafioso behavior.” He warned that “going down this road, there will come a time when a Democrat wins again — wins the White House … they will silence us.” Cruz added during his Friday podcast. “They will use this power, and they will use it ruthlessly. And that is dangerous.”

Keep ReadingShow less
A stethoscope lying on top of credit cards.

Enhanced health care tax credits expire at the end of 2025 unless Congress acts. Learn who benefits, what’s at risk, and how premiums could rise without them.

Getty Images, yavdat

Just the Facts: What Happens If Enhanced Health Care Tax Credits End in 2025

The Fulcrum strives to approach news stories with an open mind and skepticism, striving to present our readers with a broad spectrum of viewpoints through diligent research and critical thinking. As best we can, we remove personal bias from our reporting and seek a variety of perspectives in both our news gathering and selection of opinion pieces. However, before our readers can analyze varying viewpoints, they must have the facts.

There’s been a lot in the news lately about healthcare costs going up on Dec. 31 unless congress acts. What are the details?

The enhanced health care premium tax credits (ePTCs) are set to expire at the end of 2025 unless Congress acts to extend them.

Keep ReadingShow less
Congress Bill Spotlight: No Social Media at School Act

Rep. Angie Craig’s No Social Media at School Act would ban TikTok, Instagram & Snapchat during K-12 school hours. See what’s in the bill.

Getty Images, Daniel de la Hoz

Congress Bill Spotlight: No Social Media at School Act

Gen Z’s worst nightmare: TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat couldn’t be used during school hours.

What the bill does

Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN2) introduced the No Social Media at School Act, which would require social media companies to use “geofencing” to block access to their products on K-12 school grounds during school hours.

Keep ReadingShow less
A portrait of John Adams.

John Adams warned that without virtue, republics collapse. Today, billionaire spending and unchecked wealth test whether America can place the common good above private gain.

John Adams Warned Us: A Republic Without Virtue Cannot Survive

John Adams understood a truth that feels even sharper today: a republic cannot endure without virtue. Writing to Mercy Otis Warren in April 1776, he warned that public Virtue cannot exist in a Nation without [private virtue], and public Virtue is the only Foundation of Republics.” For Adams, liberty would not be preserved by clever constitutions alone. It depended on citizens who could restrain their selfish impulses for the sake of the common good.

That insight has lost none of its force. Some people do restrain themselves. They accumulate enough to live well and then turn to service, family, or community. Others never stop. Given the chance, they gather wealth and power without limit. Left unchecked, selfishness concentrates material and social resources in the hands of a few, leaving many behind and eroding the sense of shared citizenship on which democracy depends.

Keep ReadingShow less