Anna Gomez appears to have been selected by President Biden to be the next FCC Commissioner. His former selection, Gigi Sohn, asked him to withdraw her name in March.
President Joe Biden plans to select veteran government lawyer and former National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) acting Administrator Anna Gomez to serve on the Federal Communications Commission and give the agency its first Democratic majority of his presidency, according to Bloomberg.
Gomez will fill the long-vacant fifth FCC seat. The timing of a formal announcement appeared to be imminent, according to a person briefed on the matter, Bloomberg said.
If Gomez is confirmed by the Senator, it will give the FCC a 3-2 Democratic majority after more than two years of a 2-2 tie.
Previous candidate Gigi Sohn asked Biden in March to withdraw her name after her often-contentious Senate confirmation process repeatedly stalled. At the time, Senator Joe Manchin (D-W.V.) accused her of holding “partisan alliances with far-left groups.”
If Gomez joins the Commission, she will break more than two years of partisan deadlock, and the FCC would likely act on matters including restoring net neutrality rules that bar broadband providers from hindering web traffic.
Gomez joined the NTIA in February 2009. In her role at NTIA, Gomez handles a wide range of communications and Internet policy issues, focusing on spectrum management, public safety communications, and NTIA efforts to expand broadband access and adoption for all Americans.
She previously served as Acting Administrator of the agency through June 2009.
Gomez was previously Vice President, Government Affairs at Sprint Nextel. She graduated from Pennsylvania State University and earned her J.D. from George Washington University.