James E. Trainor III

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Trey Trainor
Chair of the Federal Election Commission
In office
June 18, 2020 – December 31, 2020
PresidentDonald Trump
Preceded byCaroline C. Hunter
Succeeded byShana M. Broussard
Commissioner of the Federal Election Commission
Assumed office
June 5, 2020
PresidentDonald Trump
Joe Biden
Preceded byMatthew S. Petersen
Personal details
Born
James Edwin Trainor III

Odessa, Texas, U.S.
Political partyRepublican
EducationTexas A&M University (BA)
Texas Wesleyan University (JD)

James Edwin "Trey" Trainor III is an American Republican lawyer and government official. He is a member of the Federal Election Commission after President Donald Trump nominated him and the Republican-controlled Senate confirmed him. He served as chair of the commission in 2020.

Career

Trainor was admitted to the bar in Texas in 2003.[1] He practiced election law, campaign finance, and ethics[2] as a partner in Akerman LLP's Austin office.[3] He has long supported reduced regulation of money in politics,[3] and represented the right-wing advocacy group Empower Texans in lengthy disputes with the Texas Ethics Commission over whether the group was obligated to disclose its donors.[3][2]

During the 2012 Republican primaries, Trainor was counsel for the presidential campaign of Texas Governor Rick Perry.[3] In the 2016 Republican primaries, Trainor initially supported Ted Cruz, but later worked for Donald Trump.[2][3] As general counsel to the 2016 Republican National Convention platform committee, Trainor led the party's efforts to stymie last-ditch Never Trump efforts from anti-Trump Republican convention delegates.[2][3] In 2017, Trainor was appointed assistant general counsel to the Texas Republican Party; newly elected party chairman James Dickey named him to the post.[2] Trainor was also general counsel to the Secretary of State of Texas.[3]

After Trump became president, Trainor joined his administration as special assistant to Secretary of Defense James Mattis.[4]

FEC tenure

On September 14, 2017, Trump nominated Trainor to be a member of the Federal Election Commission for a term expiring April 30, 2023.[3] Trainor's nomination languished in the Republican-controlled Senate for years,[5][6] with Trump re-nominating him twice (in 2019 and 2020).[5][7][8] During his FEC confirmation hearings, he refused to recuse himself from matters related to the Trump campaign.[9]

On May 19, 2020, the Senate voted to invoke cloture on his nomination by a 50–43 vote[10] and later that day confirmed his nomination by a 49–43 vote.[11] Trump's nomination of Trainor broke a precedent; traditionally, presidents have made nominations to the FEC in pairs (simultaneously nominating one Republican and one Democrat); Trump's decision to nominate Trainor alone was criticized by Democrats.[9]

Trainor's confirmation gave the FEC a quorum, with four of the six commission seats filled (two Republicans, one Democrat and an independent who mostly sides with the Democrat).[9] This theoretically allowed the FEC to move forward on a large backlog of enforcement matters that had effectively halted FEC activity for months during a presidential election year.[9] However, the FEC was still expected to deadlock frequently (as the commission had done for more than a decade) along party lines, since many actions of the commission require a unanimous vote.[9]

On June 18, 2020, Trainor was elected as chair for the remainder of 2020, with Steven T. Walther selected as vice chair.[12]

In interviews in September 2020 with the Religion News Service, as well as Michael Voris of the right-wing Catholic website Church Militant, Trainor said that churches could endorse political candidates, contrary to common understandings of the Johnson Amendment, which bars tax-exempt nonprofits from endorsing political candidates.[13] He justified this by pointing to Trump's 2017 executive order that the amendment should not be enforced.[13] In the same interviews, Trainor called the separation of church and state a "fallacy" and accused Catholic bishops of "hiding behind" the church's nonprofit status to avoid involvement in the 2020 U.S. elections, which Trainor called a "spiritual war."[13] FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub disagreed with Trainor's statements on the Johnson Amendment (saying that the amendment remains law and "cannot be undone with an executive order") and took issue with his depiction of elections as "spiritual wars."[13]

References

  1. ^ Mr. James Edwin "Trey" Trainor III, State Bar of Texas.
  2. ^ a b c d e Svitek, Patrick (September 12, 2017). "Trump nominates Texas lawyer Trey Trainor for Federal Election Commission". Texas Tribune. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Gold, Matea (September 13, 2017). "Trump nominates conservative Texas lawyer to Federal Election Commission". The Washington Post. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  4. ^ Svitek, Patrick (January 25, 2017). "Austin lawyer Trey Trainor joins Trump administration". Texas Tribune. Retrieved 1 November 2017.
  5. ^ a b Courtney Bublé, Commissioner’s Resignation Renders FEC Toothless as 2020 Elections Heat Up, Government Executive (August 27, 2019).
  6. ^ The Election Watchdog That Can't Bark, New York Times (August 29, 2019).
  7. ^ PN197 — James E. Trainor III — Federal Election Commission, 116th Congress (2019-2020), Congress.gov.
  8. ^ PN1600 — James E. Trainor III — Federal Election Commission, 116th Congress (2019-2020), Congress.gov.
  9. ^ a b c d e Ruiz, Rebecca R. (May 19, 2020). "Election Watchdog, Dormant for Months, Can Finally Move Into Action". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331.
  10. ^ "U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 116th Congress - 2nd Session". United States Senate. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  11. ^ "U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 116th Congress - 2nd Session". United States Senate. Retrieved 2020-05-19.
  12. ^ "FEC elects James E. "Trey" Trainor as Chair, Steven T. Walther as Vice Chair for the remainder of 2020" (Press release). Washington, D.C.: United States Federal Election Commission. June 18, 2020. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  13. ^ a b c d Jack Jenkins (September 18, 2020). "FEC chairman, in interviews, says this year's election amounts to a 'spiritual war'". Religion News Service – via The Washington Post.
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