Midterm politics endanger Biden’s tech agenda

Midterm politics are endangering a key Biden nominee who would give Democrats a majority at the Federal Communications Commission — jeopardizing the administration’s push to restore net neutrality and other tech regulations rolled back in the Trump era. A coalition of Republicans, moderate Democrats and telecom industry allies are ratcheting up pressure on potential swing Democrats to oppose FCC nominee Gigi Sohn, including by calling the progressive consumer advocate an “anti-police radical” and accusing her of being biased against rural America. Sohn’s supporters say these broad swipes, rooted in politically sensitive culture wars, bear little attachment to her actual record. FCC nominations almost never generate this kind of controversy — in fact, nominees for the agency used to cruise through the Senate by voice vote. But Democrats have struggled to find the votes needed to advance Sohn, a net neutrality supporter and former FCC aide who would be the first openly gay commissioner, amid ongoing reticence from moderates who’ve stayed silent amid a barrage of telecom industry and GOP grievances. Republican lawmakers and conservative pundits like Fox host Tucker Carlson have delivered six months of attacks over her sometimes-barbed Twitter posts. Sohn and her supporters argue Republicans and these industry opponents are fabricating controversies to stymie Democrats’ agenda at the FCC.