Carr Seen as the Likely FCC Chair in a Second Trump Administration

FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr is widely seen as the favorite to become FCC chair in a second Donald Trump presidency, and former FCC staffers and communications industry officials told us they expect a Carr-led FCC would prioritize policies he wrote about in the telecom chapter of the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025. For example, the chapter lays out plans for rolling back Section 230 protections for tech companies, deregulating broadband infrastructure and restricting Chinese companies.

Carr's association with Project 2025 shows he's viewed as someone who would be a team player, respecting Trump administration policies, said Stuart Brotman, University of Tennessee at Knoxville journalism and media law professor. Many people who participated in Project 2025 presumably would have roles in a second Trump administration, he said.

Strand Consult Executive Vice President Roslyn Layton, who was part of Trump’s first transition team, compared Carr’s plan to a speech then-Commissioner Ajit Pai gave in September 2016, laying out his “Digital Empowerment Agenda” for increasing broadband access. Carr's “writing this chapter is very similar to what Ajit Pai did in 2016, and then when Trump came into office, one of the first things he did was appoint Ajit Pai as chair,” Layton said. Trump “would be ill-advised to appoint anyone other than Brendan Carr as FCC chairman,” said attorney Adonis Hoffman, former aide to then-Commissioner Mignon Clyburn.

Current FCC Commissioner Nathan Simington is widely seen as the next most likely possibility for a Republican chair after Carr. Trump handpicked Simington, then an NTIA senior adviser, in 2020 because he "was willing to stand up and say, 'I'm going to use the powers that are available at the FCC to rein in big tech,'” Layton said: Simington’s views on regulation are seen as very similar to Carr’s.

Indeed, Carr’s Project 2025 chapter lists “reining in Big Tech” as a priority, as is a national security agenda focused on protecting networks and limiting Chinese tech companies’ activities in the U.S., freeing spectrum, and working to “correct the FCC’s regulatory trajectory.” Carr plans on eliminating media ownership rules, redirecting broadband spending policies, requiring tech companies to contribute to the Universal Service Fund, and going after tech companies whose actions are not in line with their terms of service. The first action item listed in the chapter is for the FCC to issue an order interpreting Communications Decency Act Section 230 “in a way that eliminates the expansive, non-textual immunities that courts have read into the statute.”

Carr’s Project 2025 work suggests he is closely affiliated with the Heritage Foundation, but the group’s policies aren't the official platform of the Trump campaign, Layton said. Simington was a contributor to the Project 2025 book as well, though he did not write a chapter. Other groups also are looking to influence the campaign’s telecom policies, such as The America First Foundation, Layton said. Trump recently disavowed Heritage's effort in a Truth Social post (see 2407050015) saying, "I know nothing about Project 2025," yet "I disagree with some of the things they’re saying," He did not provide specifics, however. Numerous officials told us they’re not aware of any other candidates to head the FCC, although they also said Trump's naming an unexpected person is a possibility. “There are no smoke signals” about other candidates, said Digital First Project Executive Director Nathan Leamer, a former Pai adviser.

It's not clear who the third GOP FCC commissioner would be, but congressional staffers are often a popular choice, said Lee Petro, a Dickson Wright communications lawyer.

Senate Commerce Committee Chair Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., told us last week she has “general” misgivings about Carr as a potential FCC chair given his role in writing the Project 2025 manifesto’s chapter, but would need to further examine the document before opining on his policy proposals. House Communications Subcommittee members Reps. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., and Lizzie Fletcher, D-Texas, called out Carr’s Project 2025 participation during a Tuesday hearing on the FCC’s FY 2025 budget request (see 2407090049).

Dingell, speaking on behalf of House Commerce Committee ranking member Frank Pallone, D-N.J., warned Project 2025’s proposals would “destroy agencies like the FCC and the important role it plays on behalf of the public in overseeing critical services like our communication networks.” Fletcher said she was “surprised and very disappointed” by Carr’s participation in the manifesto, which serves as “a blueprint for dismantling our government and eviscerating agencies like [the FCC] and others and fundamentally changing our country.”

Carr has made it clear he wants the FCC to go after Big Tech, with USF reform that gets edge providers to contribute, said Public Knowledge Senior Vice President Harold Feld. Carr also likely would initiate a rulemaking around the Communications Decency Act's Section 230, Feld said.