Toothless Watchdog: America's Election Cops Can't Enforce Any Law Weeks Before the Midterms
With only two of six seats filled and a case backlog that's doubled in a year, the Federal Election Commission hasn't issued a single fine or ruling since May 2025 — leaving campaigns on both sides free to skirt the rules as a record $11.6 billion midterm cycle heats up.
The agency responsible for policing how billions of dollars flow through American political campaigns has effectively gone dark just as the most expensive midterm cycle in history reaches its final weeks. The Federal Election Commission now has only two of its six commissioner seats filled — both Democrats, Chair Shana Broussard and Dara Lindenbaum — and for the first time since the agency was created in 1974, it has no members from one of the two major parties, according to a CBS News investigation published Wednesday.
Because the FEC's rules require four commissioners to take any formal enforcement action, the agency hasn't opened an investigation, issued a fine or approved a new civil penalty since May 2025. In the twelve months before that, it closed 180 cases and collected roughly $1 million in penalties. Since then: nothing. The backlog of stalled enforcement matters has roughly doubled, according to reporting from NOTUS, a nonprofit newsroom that has tracked the shutdown since the quorum first collapsed.
"Blanket impunity"
The paralysis traces back to a wave of departures: Republican Sean Cooksey left in January 2025 to join Vice President JD Vance's office; Trump removed Democratic chair Ellen Weintraub, who called the move illegal; Republican Allen Dickerson resigned that spring; and Republican Trey Trainor stepped down in October 2025 to run, unsuccessfully, for a Texas congressional seat. Trump nominated two Republican replacements, Ashley Stow and Andrew Woodson, back in February — but nearly eight months later, the Senate still hasn't held a confirmation hearing for either one.
"NO ONE — NOT THE CANDIDATES, NOT THEIR LAWYERS, NOT THE PUBLIC — CAN GET A RELIABLE ANSWER ABOUT WHETHER CONDUCT IS LEGAL," said Adav Noti, a former FEC lawyer now with the Campaign Legal Center, who described the current environment as a form of "blanket impunity."
The practical fallout is piling up on both sides of the aisle. A conservative group's complaint accusing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of misusing campaign funds is stalled right alongside a Campaign Legal Center complaint alleging Trump illegally controls the pro-Trump super PAC MAGA Inc., which it denies. Lawmakers including Reps. Mike Lawler, Josh Gottheimer and Anna Paulina Luna have all asked the commission basic questions, only to be told the agency "cannot proceed" without a quorum.
Meanwhile, the money keeps pouring in. Ad-tracking firm AdImpact now projects $11.6 billion in political ad spending this cycle, about $400 million more than 2024, with hundreds of millions of dollars moving through undisclosed-donor groups and late-forming "pop-up" super PACs that an empowered FEC might otherwise scrutinize. Craig Holman of Public Citizen put it bluntly: with no one able to judge the merits of complaints or enforce the law, candidates are "effectively free to do as they wish" through Election Day and likely well beyond it.