Trump Nominates Four Bipartisan SEC and CFTC Commissioners

Four Bipartisan Nominations Sent to the Senate

The White House sent four commissioner nominations to the Senate on November 12, the first picks for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) since 2025. The slate is bipartisan, pairing two Republicans with two Democrats. For the SEC, which supervises securities offerings and stock market oversight, President Donald Trump nominated Kristin N. Johnson and Steven Levine. Johnson's term runs to June 5, 2029, succeeding Caroline Crenshaw; Levine's runs to June 5, 2030, succeeding Hester Peirce, who left the commission a few weeks ago after her term expired. At the CFTC, the nominees are Nathan Anonick, whose term runs to June 19, 2031, and Matthew Rowland, who fills the remainder of a term ending April 13, 2028. Anonick takes the seat formerly held by ex-chair Rostin Behnam; Rowland fills the vacancy left by Summer Mersinger. The nominations sent to the Senate were published by the White House on Thursday. Both agencies are authorized to seat five commissioners. The SEC currently operates with Chair Paul Atkins and Commissioner Mark Uyeda. The CFTC has one: Chair Mike Selig.

CLARITY Act Ties Run Through the CFTC

The backgrounds point to continuity at both agencies. Johnson served as a CFTC commissioner from 2022 to 2025, appointed under President Joe Biden, and teaches at George Washington University Law School, where her research covers financial market regulation, blockchain and artificial intelligence. Levine, a Republican, worked as legal counsel and senior adviser at the White House Council of Economic Advisers and previously handled legal matters at the SEC. Anonick serves on the Senate Agriculture Committee's majority staff, where he has handled digital asset and derivatives policy, and earlier worked on resolution policy for financial institutions at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Rowland is a CFTC attorney who handled enforcement matters, previously served on Johnson's own staff, and is currently detailed to the Senate Agriculture Committee. The two CFTC picks also carry direct market-structure experience: Anonick played a central role in agriculture-side negotiations on the CLARITY Act as legal counsel to committee chair John Boozman, while Rowland worked on the 2024 digital asset legislation covering the agriculture space. CFTC Chair Mike Selig welcomed both on X, calling them a strong bipartisan pairing and saying he looked forward to working with them.

A November 20 Deadline for Committees

The confirmation window is narrow. Republicans lost last week's midterm elections and are set to give up Senate control in January, when the 120th Congress convenes on January 3, 2027 and Democrats take charge of both chambers. Senate Republican leadership has pressed for the four nominees to clear committee by November 20 so they can be folded into a year-end legislative package, a deadline requested last month, and floor time this session is limited. The procedural path runs through two committees: the CFTC nominees face the Senate Agriculture Committee, the SEC nominees the Senate Banking Committee, before full Senate votes. Elizabeth Warren is expected to chair Banking under the new Congress. A single-commissioner CFTC was already flagged as a problem before this slate: in May, House Agriculture Committee Chair Glenn Thompson, a Republican, and ranking member Angie Craig, a Democrat, wrote to Trump urging four CFTC nominations, arguing that rules issued by a one-member agency are more likely to be challenged in court. Until now, Trump had not nominated a single Democrat to either agency this term.

The market-structure stakes outrun the political framing. If the four clear committee this month and land in the year-end package, Selig gains four votes at a CFTC whose digital asset mandate the CLARITY Act would widen, and both regulators regain rulemaking capacity they now lack. The bipartisan shape changes the confirmation math too: Anonick's term runs to 2031 and Rowland's to 2028, past the January power flip, and a Democratic-led Senate Banking Committee will review the SEC slate. If nothing moves by November 20, confirmation shifts to a Senate whose agenda the current majority no longer controls, leaving both agencies short-handed into a rulemaking cycle they are expected to lead.