Fox reporter: Trump may choose two Democrats who are more consistent with his policies as SEC commissioners

Fox reporter Eleanor Terrett said on X platform that Democratic SEC Commissioner Jaime Lizarraga will resign on January 17, leaving only one Democrat, Caroline Crenshaw, on the commission after Trump takes office. This means that there will be three vacant seats to be filled by January 20. This also means that until these nominees are confirmed, the SEC Republicans will have a 2-1 majority (Uyeda and Peirce are Republicans, and Crenshaw is a Democrat). Trump may choose two Democrats who are more consistent with his policies. Past precedents have been that the minority party recommends minority candidates to the president, which makes the confirmation process easier, but the president is not obliged to adopt this recommendation. Trump can also choose to appoint independents to these positions. The rule is that there cannot be more than three members of the commission who are from the same party as the president. For example, Jay Clayton, the former chairman during Trump's first term, was an independent.