Anna Gomez

Anna Gomez is a telecommunications lawyer and a member of the Federal Communications Commission, confirmed in 2023. By mid-2025 she was the commission’s only Democratic member, and she has used dissents, public statements and a speaking tour to oppose actions by Chairman Brendan Carr toward broadcasters and news organizations, which she has described as government efforts to censor and control speech.

Career Before the Commission

Gomez worked at the FCC for 12 years in earlier roles, including deputy chief of the International Bureau and senior legal advisor to Chairman William Kennard. She later served as deputy administrator of the National Telecommunications and Information Administration. In 2023 she was senior advisor for international information and communications policy in the State Department’s Bureau of Cyberspace and Digital Policy.

Nomination and Confirmation (2023)

President Joe Biden nominated Gomez on 22 May 2023 to the commission’s vacant fifth seat; the vacancy had left the FCC split 2–2 between Democratic and Republican commissioners. His earlier nominee for the seat, Gigi Sohn, had withdrawn in March 2023. The Senate confirmed her on 7 September 2023, and she was sworn in on 25 September 2023, the first Latina commissioner in more than two decades.

Commissioner Under Chairman Carr (2025–present)

First Amendment Tour: In April 2025 Gomez began what she called a “First Amendment Tour,” a series of public events and listening sessions held with civil society organizations; the first was hosted by the Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington on 24 April 2025. Announcing it, she said that “the greatest threat to that freedom is coming from our own government.”

Paramount and Skydance: In July 2025 the commission voted 2–1 to approve Skydance Media’s acquisition of Paramount, following Skydance’s commitments to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs and to appoint an ombudsman at CBS. Gomez cast the dissenting vote, saying that “after months of cowardly capitulation to this Administration, Paramount finally got what it wanted.”

Jimmy Kimmel: ABC suspended Jimmy Kimmel Live! in September 2025 after Carr’s public comments about Kimmel’s remarks on the killing of Charlie Kirk; the extent to which Carr’s comments led to the suspension is disputed, and the commission itself took no formal action. Gomez spoke against Carr’s actions in an interview on CNN.

Equal time guidance: When the Media Bureau issued guidance on 21 January 2026 narrowing the equal-time exemption that networks had relied on for candidate interviews on late-night and daytime talk shows, Carr said that networks had for years assumed such shows qualified as “bona fide news” programs “even when motivated by purely partisan political purposes.” Gomez called the guidance “an escalation in this FCC’s ongoing campaign to censor and control speech.”

Disney license reviews: On 28 April 2026 the FCC directed eight Disney-owned ABC stations to file license renewals early; their licenses were not due for renewal until 2028 at the earliest. An FCC spokesperson said the order was “based on a long running FCC investigation into Disney’s DEI conduct, not any speech.” Gomez said: “This is unprecedented, unlawful, and going nowhere. It is a political stunt and it won’t stick. Companies should challenge it head-on. The First Amendment is on their side.”

Polling warning: In October 2026, after the firm Wedgewood Polls admitted that surveys cited by national outlets had been fabricated, Carr posted on X that there had been “a significant surge in entirely Fake Polls and Suppression Polls” and that many journalists and broadcasters had aired them “without regard to basic journalistic ethics” and “without informing the public that those Polls lack a scientific, accurate, or even real basis,” and he warned broadcasters that airing such polls could violate their regulatory obligations. Gomez responded that “pollsters who intentionally mislead the public should answer for it, but broadcasters who report publicly available polling data should never be punished when a poll is wrong,” and said the commission’s news distortion rules do not apply to stations reporting polling data in good faith.