New FEC Commissioner Sworn in to Office
On August 2, Dara Lindenbaum was sworn in as a Commissioner of the Federal Election Commission (FEC). She was nominated by President Biden on February 3 and confirmed by the Senate on May 24. Prior to her appointment, she was a partner at Sandler Reiff Lamb Rosenstein & Birkenstock, P.C. law firm in Washington, DC, where she counseled candidates, political action committees, nonprofits, and corporations on election law.
Before working at Sandler Reiff, Ms. Lindenbaum worked as associate counsel for the Voting Rights Project at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. She has also worked with several political causes, including serving as General Counsel to Stacey Abrams’s current and 2018 campaigns for Governor of Georgia and working as a development assistant for Americans United for Separation of Church and State. She previously served as a law clerk for former FEC Commissioner Cynthia Bauerly.
She holds a bachelor’s degree from Northeastern University and a J.D. from the George Washington University Law School.
Ms. Lindenbaum replaced Steven T. Walther, who had served as a Commissioner since 2006 and was the FEC’s Vice Chair. Commissioner Walther is an Independent who would often vote with the Democratic Commissioners on substantive matters, so Lindenbaum’s appointment is not expected to change the partisan dynamics of the FEC. Under the law, no more than three commissioners of the six-person body can be from the same party, and four votes are required to reach a quorum and to take regulatory actions. There is no tiebreaking process for votes that end in a 3-3 tie.
