WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump has selected a Texas attorney and supporter to join the beleaguered Federal Election Commission.
Trump appointed James “Trey” Trainor III, a well-known election-law specialist based in Austin, to the panel that monitors and polices federal campaign fundraising and spending. The position requires Senate confirmation.
Trainor would serve a term that expires in April 2021, according to a White House announcement Tuesday night.
The FEC is typically made up of six commissioners, and by law no more than three can be from the same political party. At least four votes are required to take action on any enforcement matter, explaining why the politically divided FEC has deadlocked repeatedly in recent years.
Trainor is pictured in a January Austin American-Statesman story grinning broadly and holding pro-Trump signs.