Retirements, redistricting and campaign competition for seats on Senate and House committees with jurisdiction over ARM industry legislation and regulators are all factors at play leading up to Election Day. Editor’s note: This article is available for members only.
11/2/2020 10:00
By Patrick Russell
Federal Advocacy Director
Depending on which way the 2020 election results go, the House Committee on Energy and Commerce as well as the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation—two major committees of jurisdiction for the accounts receivable management (ARM) industry—could look very different.
Both committees oversee the Federal Communications Commission and the Federal Trade Commission and focus on Telephone Consumer Protection Act-related legislation, illegal robocalls, call blocking and call labeling and privacy, which will continue to be top-line issues for ACA International as we move into the 117th Congress.
Here are some of the major races that will affect membership, and potentially the direction, of these committees:
Senate
Colorado: U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner (Republican) vs. John Hickenlooper (Democrat)
Gardner was elected during the Republican wave of 2014, but since then, Colorado has shifted to the left, which makes Gardner’s prospects for re-election some of the toughest of any GOP incumbent.
A former member of the Colorado House of Representatives and U.S. House of Representatives, Gardner has focused his time in the Senate on energy policy and public lands—ranking as the Lugar Center’s third most bipartisan senator in 2019.
Gardner’s opponent, Hickenlooper, is a former two-term Democrat governor, two-term Denver mayor and a one-time presidential primary candidate.
Colorado’s shift toward the democratic party and Hickenlooper’s track record of winning statewide elections makes this seat the most promising pickup opportunity for Democrats, and a must-win seat in the party's quest to take the Senate.
Michigan: U.S. Sen. Gary Peters (Democrat) vs. John James (Republican)
Peters, a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives from the Detroit area, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2014 and is now seeking a second term. Peters, who currently serves on the Senate Commerce Committee, is one of just two Senate Democrats running for reelection in a state that President Donald Trump won in 2016.
James, a West Point graduate and former Army pilot who now runs a warehousing and logistics business in Farmington Hills, ran against Michigan’s other Democratic senator, Debbie Stabenow, in 2018, and lost by less (six points) than other Republicans on the ballot.
James has outraised Peters in four of the last five quarters, with the two campaigns both bringing in $14 million each this last quarter, surpassing $70 million combined and making it the most expensive Michigan Senate race in history. While Peters has led James by comfortable margins in almost all the polls conducted in 2020, recent surveys have shown a tighter race—causing a last-minute influx of outside spending from both sides.
Alaska: U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan (Republican) vs. Al Gross (Independent)
Sullivan, a first-term senator who previously served as the state’s attorney general and commissioner of the Alaska Department of Natural Resources, is facing off against Gross, an orthopedic surgeon and commercial fisherman.
Sullivan has served in the U.S. Marine Corps since 1993, and currently holds the rank of colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves. In D.C., Sullivan sits on the committees on Armed Services and Transportation in addition to the Commerce Committee, focusing his efforts on military and veterans’ affairs and infrastructure.
Gross is running as an independent backed by Democrats and would caucus with Democrats if elected. An Alaska native, Gross left his orthopedic surgery practice in 2013 to earn a master's degree in public health and become a health care advocate.
A last-minute surge of momentum for Gross gave him a huge boost in fundraising in the third quarter, bringing in nearly seven times as much as Sullivan and making this race unexpectedly close.
House of Representatives
Because of its very nature, turnover in the U.S. House of Representatives is always going to outpace that of the Senate. However, in this cycle, turnover on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce is more likely to come from retirements than it is from election losses. Thirty-six incumbents from the 116th Congress chose not to seek reelection in 2020. Here are a few of those sitting members that will affect the make-up of the Energy and Commerce committee:
- Ben Ray Luján, D-New Mexico, is now running for the open Senate seat in New Mexico, leaving a vacancy on the Energy and Commerce Committee as well as an opening in House leadership.
- Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa, is retiring after 14 years in Congress.
- Joe Kennedy, D-Mass., decided not to run again for his House seat and instead took on, but ultimately lost to, U.S. Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., in a bid for the Senate.
- Greg Walden, R-Ore., the top Republican on Energy and Commerce and the former chair of the telecommunications subcommittee that oversees the FCC, chose not to run for a 12th term.
- Susan Brooks, R-Ind., one of the few women in the House Republican Caucus, shocked the GOP with her decision not to run again after her fourth term. This leaves a spot open on Energy & Commerce, as well as the important telecommunications subcommittee.
- Pete Olson, R-Texas, is giving up his spot after 12 years.
- John Shimkus, R-Ill., ranking member on the environment subcommittee, briefly reconsidered his retirement after Walden’s announcement, but ultimately decided to leave Congress after his 12th term.
- Bill Flores, R-Texas, went to Congress promising not to serve more than six terms and he is sticking to that promise.
- Greg Gianforte, R-Mont., is trying his hand again for Montana’s governorship.
Although he isn’t technically retiring, U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., a top member of the Energy and Commerce Committee and 16-term incumbent, also won’t be returning to Congress next year as he lost his primary to a political newcomer in June.
Of those Energy and Commerce members who are seeking reelection, Richard Hudson, R-N.C., is one of the only ones engaged in a tight race.
Due to redistricting in North Carolina, Hudson is facing Patricia Timmons-Goodson, an associate justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court, for a seat that is now much more competitive than ever before.
Irrespective of the election results, ACA is preparing for every outcome. We’ve been laying the groundwork for engagement and education with incumbents who might find themselves moving committees, as well as candidates who might find themselves as members of Congress in January. And no matter who is on House Energy and Commerce and Senate Commerce, we will be working to advocate for the ARM industry.
Learn more in our election outlook memorandum available for members.
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