Trey Trainor | |
---|---|
Chair of the Federal Election Commission | |
In office June 18, 2020 –December 31, 2020 | |
President | Donald Trump |
Preceded by | Caroline C. Hunter |
Succeeded by | Shana M. Broussard |
Commissioner of the Federal Election Commission | |
Assumed office June 5,2020 | |
President | Donald Trump Joe Biden |
Preceded by | Matthew S. Petersen |
Personal details | |
Born | James Edwin Trainor III Odessa,Texas,U.S. |
Political party | Republican |
Education | Texas A&M University (BA) Texas Wesleyan University (JD) |
James Edwin "Trey" Trainor III is an American Republican lawyer and government official. He is a member of the Federal Election Commission after President Donald Trump nominated him and the Republican-controlled Senate confirmed him. He served as chair of the commission in 2020.
Trainor was admitted to the bar in Texas in 2003. [1] He practiced election law,campaign finance,and ethics [2] as a partner in Akerman LLP's Austin office. [3] He has long supported reduced regulation of money in politics, [3] and represented the right-wing advocacy group Empower Texans in lengthy disputes with the Texas Ethics Commission over whether the group was obligated to disclose its donors. [3] [2]
During the 2012 Republican primaries,Trainor was counsel for the presidential campaign of Texas Governor Rick Perry. [3] In the 2016 Republican primaries,Trainor initially supported Ted Cruz,but later worked for Donald Trump. [2] [3] As general counsel to the 2016 Republican National Convention platform committee,Trainor led the party's efforts to stymie last-ditch Never Trump efforts from anti-Trump Republican convention delegates. [2] [3] In 2017,Trainor was appointed assistant general counsel to the Texas Republican Party;newly elected party chairman James Dickey named him to the post. [2] Trainor was also general counsel to the Secretary of State of Texas. [3]
After Trump became president,Trainor joined his administration as special assistant to Secretary of Defense James Mattis. [4]
On September 14,2017,Trump nominated Trainor to be a member of the Federal Election Commission for a term expiring April 30,2023. [3] Trainor's nomination languished in the Republican-controlled Senate for years, [5] [6] with Trump re-nominating him twice (in 2019 and 2020). [5] [7] [8] During his FEC confirmation hearings,he refused to recuse himself from matters related to the Trump campaign. [9]
On May 19,2020,the Senate voted to invoke cloture on his nomination by a 50–43 vote [10] and later that day confirmed his nomination by a 49–43 vote. [11] Trump's nomination of Trainor broke a precedent;traditionally,presidents have made nominations to the FEC in pairs (simultaneously nominating one Republican and one Democrat);Trump's decision to nominate Trainor alone was criticized by Democrats. [9]
Trainor's confirmation gave the FEC a quorum,with four of the six commission seats filled (two Republicans,one Democrat and an independent who mostly sides with the Democrat). [9] This theoretically allowed the FEC to move forward on a large backlog of enforcement matters that had effectively halted FEC activity for months during a presidential election year. [9] However,the FEC was still expected to deadlock frequently (as the commission had done for more than a decade) along party lines,since many actions of the commission require a unanimous vote. [9]
On June 18,2020,Trainor was elected as chair for the remainder of 2020,with Steven T. Walther selected as vice chair. [12]
In interviews in September 2020 with the Religion News Service,as well as Michael Voris of the right-wing Catholic website Church Militant ,Trainor said that churches could endorse political candidates,contrary to common understandings of the Johnson Amendment,which bars tax-exempt nonprofits from endorsing political candidates. [13] He justified this by pointing to Trump's 2017 executive order that the amendment should not be enforced. [13] In the same interviews,Trainor called the separation of church and state a "fallacy" and accused Catholic bishops of "hiding behind" the church's nonprofit status to avoid involvement in the 2020 U.S. elections,which Trainor called a "spiritual war." [13] FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub disagreed with Trainor's statements on the Johnson Amendment (saying that the amendment remains law and "cannot be undone with an executive order") and took issue with his depiction of elections as "spiritual wars." [13]
The Federal Election Commission (FEC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose purpose is to enforce campaign finance law in United States federal elections. Created in 1974 through amendments to the Federal Election Campaign Act,the commission describes its duties as "to disclose campaign finance information,to enforce the provisions of the law such as the limits and prohibitions on contributions,and to oversee the public funding of Presidential elections."
Kenneth Michael Conaway is an American politician who was the U.S. representative for Texas's 11th congressional district from 2005 to 2021. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district Conaway represented is located in West Texas and includes Midland,Odessa,San Angelo,Brownwood,and Granbury. Conaway led the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections after the Intelligence Committee chair,Devin Nunes,recused himself. Aside from serving as the chair of the House Ethics Committee,he served as the chair of the House Agriculture Committee,and later its ranking member. Conaway indicated in July 2019 that he would not be seeking reelection. Conaway was succeeded by fellow Republican August Pfluger.
The United States Sentencing Commission is an independent agency of the judicial branch of the U.S. federal government. It is responsible for articulating the U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines for the federal courts. The Commission promulgates the Federal Sentencing Guidelines,which replaced the prior system of indeterminate sentencing that allowed trial judges to give sentences ranging from probation to the maximum statutory punishment for the offense. It is headquartered in Washington,D.C.
The 116th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government,composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It convened in Washington,D.C.,on January 3,2019,and ended on January 3,2021,during the final two years of Donald Trump's presidency. Senators elected to regular terms in 2014 finished their terms in this Congress,and House seats were apportioned based on the 2010 census.
Matthew Spencer Petersen is an American attorney who served as a member of the United States Federal Election Commission. In 2017,he was nominated by President Donald Trump to be a United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. Petersen withdrew his nomination following a confrontational exchange with Senator John Kennedy during his confirmation hearing. On August 26,2019,Petersen announced his resignation from the FEC,effective August 31. In September 2019,Petersen joined the law firm Holtzman Vogel Josefiak Torchinsky as a partner where he practices political law.
Caroline Critchfield Hunter is a former Republican member of the United States Federal Election Commission. She was appointed in June 2008,and served as chair in 2012,2018,and 2020. On June 26,2020,she resigned from the FEC,effective July 3,2020,leaving the FEC without a quorum.
The 2018 United States Senate elections were held on November 6,2018. Among the 100 seats,the 33 of Class 1 were contested in regular elections while 2 others were contested in special elections due to Senate vacancies in Minnesota and Mississippi. The regular election winners were elected to 6-year terms running from January 3,2019,to January 3,2025. Senate Democrats had 26 seats up for election,while Senate Republicans had 9 seats up for election.
Patrick Edward Fallon is an American businessman and politician. A member of the Republican Party,he has been the U.S. representative for Texas's 4th congressional district since 2021. Fallon was also a member of the Texas House of Representatives for the 106th district from 2013 to 2019 and represented the 30th district of the Texas Senate from 2019 to 2021.
John Lee Ratcliffe is an American politician and attorney who served as the Director of National Intelligence from 2020 to 2021. He previously served as the U.S. representative for Texas's 4th district from 2015 to 2020. During his time in Congress,Ratcliffe was regarded as one of the most conservative members. Ratcliffe also served as Mayor of Heath,Texas,from 2004 to 2012 and acting United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas from May 2007 to April 2008.
Joseph Albert "Trey" Hollingsworth III is an American businessman and politician who served as the U.S. representative for Indiana's 9th congressional district from 2017 to 2023. A member of the Republican Party,Hollingsworth served on the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee. Due to that committee assignment,Hollingsworth was the vice ranking member of the House Financial Services Committee Subcommittee on Investor Protection,Entrepreneurship,and Capital Markets and a member of the House Financial Services Subcommittee on Diversity and Inclusion.
The 2020 United States Senate election in Texas was held on November 3,2020,to elect a member to the United States Senate to represent the State of Texas,concurrently with the 2020 U.S. presidential election,as well as other elections to the United States Senate in other states and elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Republican Senator John Cornyn won re-election to a fourth term against Democratic nominee MJ Hegar by 9.6%.
James Chiun-Yue Ho is a Taiwanese-born American jurist who serves as a U.S. circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. He was nominated to the Fifth Circuit by President Donald Trump,and took office in 2018. Ho formerly served as Solicitor General of Texas from 2008 to 2010.
Donald Trump,President of the United States from 2017 to 2021,entered office with a significant number of judicial vacancies,including a Supreme Court vacancy due to the death of Antonin Scalia in February 2016. During the first eight months of his presidency,he nominated approximately 50 judges,a significantly higher number than any other recent president had made by that point in his presidency. By June 24,2020,200 of his Article III nominees had been confirmed by the United States Senate. According to multiple media outlets,Trump significantly impacted the composition of the Supreme Court and lower courts during his tenure.
Kendra Suzanne Horn is an American lawyer and politician who served as the U.S. representative for Oklahoma's 5th congressional district from 2019 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party,her district included almost all of Oklahoma City.
Sean Joseph Cooksey is a commissioner of the Federal Election Commission.
Shana M. Broussard is an American attorney who served as the chair of the Federal Election Commission (FEC) for 2021. She has been a Democratic member of the FEC since December 15,2020.
Ernest Anthony "Tony" Gonzales II is an American politician and United States Navy veteran who has served as the U.S. representative for Texas's 23rd congressional district in the United States House of Representatives since 2021. He is a member of the Republican Party.
The 2021 Texas's 6th congressional district special election was held on May 1,2021. The seat became vacant after incumbent Republican Ron Wright died on February 7 of COVID-19.
Dara Lindenbaum is an American election lawyer serving as a commissioner of the Federal Election Commission (FEC). She was nominated in January 2022 and confirmed by the Senate in May 2022.
The 2024 United States House of Representatives elections in Texas will be held on November 5,2024,to elect the thirty-eight U.S. representatives from the State of Texas,one from each of the state's congressional districts. The elections will coincide with the 2024 U.S. presidential election,as well as other elections to the House of Representatives,elections to the United States Senate,and various state and local elections.