The Federal Election Commission (FEC) plans to elect a new Chair on Thursday. If it does, the new Chair should take office on May 1 for a one-year term. Here’s why.  

 The FEC previously elected Chairs by calendar year, but this makes no sense. Commissioners’ terms end on April 30, so electing a Chair by calendar year means the Chair’s term is out of sync with commissioners’ terms.  

This situation led to former Commissioner Weintraub arguably illegally serving as Chair twice in a term earlier this year. Under 52 U.S. Code § 30106(a)(5), “A member may serve as chairman only once during any term of office to which such member is appointed.” She stayed long past her original term, which ended in 2007, but the term for her seat would have ended on April 30, 2025. Yet she was Chair in 2019 and then again in 2025. That meant she served for a second time as Chair during the seat’s current term (May 1, 2019 to April 30, 2025). 

 Just as obviously, the law itself is defective, and Congress ought to clean it up. 

So, who could the commissioners elect as the next Chair? Under the law, it would appear that the best way to comply would be to elect either the current Vice Chair, James E. “Trey” Trainor III, or Shana M. Broussard. The two are the only commissioners who have not served as Chair during their seat’s current term. 

Yet, strangely, even though the law mandates a one-year term, Trainor never got to serve a full year when he was Chair in 2020, serving only from June 18-Dec. 31, 2020. Broussard has yet to be elected Vice Chair. 

If Commissioners Broussard and Trainor are the only candidates from which to elect the next Chair, note that FEC tradition is to rotate the position between parties on a year-to-year basis. Democrat Ellen Weintraub briefly served as Chair at the beginning of 2025, making this a “Democratic year.” Adherence to the tradition, therefore, would necessitate the selection of Commissioner Broussard, a Democrat, as the next Chair. 

The best option would be for the President to nominate two persons to fill the vacancies at the FEC, then elect the new Democratic commissioner as Chair and the new Republican as Vice Chair. This would maintain the tradition of alternating the office of the Chair between the two parties and clearly comply with any reading of the current law.  

Let’s hope the nominations to the FEC are coming soon and the Senate will find both nominees worthy and confirm them quickly.