Since May 1, 2025, the Federal Election Commission, the agency that enforces federal campaign finance law, has had too few members to act. The law requires four votes for its enforcement, rulemaking and advisory work, and the FEC's chair said a year later, “Since we lost a quorum, we have not been able to resolve enforcement and audit matters, implement rules, issue advisory opinions, and litigate most cases.” CBS News reported in October 2026 that the agency “can't open investigations, issue fines, write rules or give candidates formal legal guidance,” that its enforcement backlog “has doubled in a year, from 154 to 307,” and that it has not “approved a dollar in new civil penalties” since losing the quorum.
Most of the departures were voluntary, but one was Trump's decision. Republican Sean Cooksey resigned in January 2025 to become a lawyer for Vice President JD Vance. Then Democratic chair Ellen Weintraub received a White House letter dated January 31 that read, “You are hereby removed as a Member of the Federal Election Commission, effective immediately,” and cited no cause. “There's a legal way to replace FEC commissioners-this isn't it,” Weintraub wrote. Trevor Potter, a former Republican FEC chair, said, “As the only agency that regulates the president, Congress intentionally did not grant the president the power to fire FEC commissioners.” White House spokesman Harrison Fields told the Washington Examiner, “Our message to Ellen Weintraub is simple: you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here.” When Republican Allen Dickerson left on April 30, three commissioners remained, one short of a quorum. A third Republican, Trey Trainor, left in October 2025.
Trump then left the seats empty. In November 2025 NOTUS reported that “Trump has for months been sitting on three commissioner candidates recommended by congressional leaders, but none have been formally nominated.” On February 11, 2026 he nominated two Republicans, not the Democrat congressional leaders had also recommended. As of October 7, 2026, CBS reported, “the Senate has not held a hearing on either nominee,” leaving the commission without a quorum weeks before the midterms. No White House explanation for the delay appears in the reporting. NPR offered its own reading: “Because there is no quorum, the absence of Republican commissioners doesn't matter all that much. This is likely part of why Trump hasn't been in a rush to fill vacant seats.” Trump's February 18, 2025 executive order on independent agencies also named the FEC among those that must send significant regulations to the White House for review, though a court dismissed the Democratic National Committee's challenge to it because there were no specific allegations that it had been applied to the commission.
Campaign finance law still applies and “may be enforced once a quorum is restored,” the Congressional Research Service notes, and Justice Department criminal enforcement and private lawsuits continue. But pending complaints, including one filed in September 2026 alleging that Trump illegally controls the super PAC MAGA Inc. (Trump Says the Super PAC's Billion Dollars Is 'My Money That I Control.' A Watchdog Says That Is the Violation.), cannot be decided. “Since there is just absolutely no enforcement mechanism right now, there's sort of blanket impunity for lawbreaking,” said Adav Noti of the Campaign Legal Center. Paul Kamenar, a lawyer at the National Legal and Policy Center, a conservative nonprofit, said, “It is very disconcerting that the FEC is incapable of carrying out any enforcement actions.” The FEC chair called it “the longest period without a quorum in the Commission's 50+ year history.” In July 2026 Trump also removed the last members of the Election Assistance Commission (Trump Fires the Last Members of the Bipartisan Election Assistance Commission, Leaving It Unable to Act Before the Midterms).