Senate Commerce Incumbents Call Telecom Key, Divided on Re-election Importance

“Anything that affects their bottom line and their pocketbooks is something they care about,” said Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D. “Dropped calls for sure, that’ll do it. Those basic service issues. Anything that adds to their daily cost of living is a pretty big deal. And obviously anything that deals with, in the tech sector, a lot of good-paying jobs are created, and I think those are kinds of issues, economic issues, the economic cluster of issues, if you will, that most voters when making decisions care a lot about. I would put national security into that mix, too, but I think second to that, national security and terrorism, is the jobs and the economy.” The perception that the tech sector creates good-paying jobs is "well grounded," he said.

Thune is one of Commerce’s eight members seeking re-election this November (see 1510160052). Six Republicans and two Democrats are up. Two of the GOP openings are seen as true toss-ups, based on polling and analyst estimates: Sens. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., who is facing Democratic Gov. Maggie Hassan, and Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., vying with former Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold. Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., has led in the polls in his race against Missouri Secretary of State Jason Kander, but that seat is increasingly seen as threatened (see 1608030076).

Voters “absolutely” bring up telecom policy, said Ayotte. “The one thing that isn’t wonky is broadband access, and wireless access in rural parts of my state,” she said. “So universal service fund and issues like that, which I’ve been very interested in the Commerce Committee, that’s not wonky at all because if you don’t have that access in rural areas of the state, it’s very difficult for communication and also for economic development.” She told us of voters bringing up such issues this summer in the state's North Country, an economically challenged region. “That’s why I have legislation,” she said, referring to S-734. “New Hampshire’s toward the bottom of the barrel. We get 40 cents on the dollar back from the universal service fund. So I’ve been really pushing reform of not only the fund and how the dollars go out but also the formulation.”

Johnson, too, immediately pointed to telecom issues that matter in Wisconsin. “Rural broadband, high-speed broadband,” he called matters of importance.

'In the Weeds'

The GOP majority is 54-46, and 34 Senate seats are open this November, 24 held by Republicans and 10 by Democrats. Control of the chamber is seen as up for grabs, with a possibility of Democrats reclaiming power. Republicans including Thune say they want to embark on a rewrite of the 1996 Telecom Act next year, which some say would be easier if Republicans retain authority (see 1608080022). Some Democrats such as Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Bill Nelson, D-Fla., who is up for re-election in 2018 and could become Commerce Committee chairman if the chamber switches hands, haven't voiced interest in such an overhaul.

Senators running the Republican and Democratic campaign arms this year pointed to the nature of states where the elections are held as a significant factor in determining the importance of telecom policy. National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Roger Wicker, R-Miss., was dubious of the importance in statewide races.

“If I were running this year, I might want to talk about the ways I’m trying to expand access,” said Wicker, who chairs Commerce’s Communications Subcommittee. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, a Commerce Committee member up in 2020, “might join me in that in mentioning to Alaskans his efforts in universal service and the Mobility Fund and things like that, but I don’t think it would be a game-changer in a statewide race,” Wicker speculated. “It’s something positive you can point to as an accomplishment. For instance, I’m trying to do things in telemedicine, as you know, and if I get it done, it’ll be a great advancement for saving lives. But I don’t think anybody’s going to come down yes or no in my re-election because of that. … It’s a very important issue, I just don’t know if it’s a vote-getter.”

“Broadband infrastructure is really, really important,” said Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chairman Jon Tester, D-Mont. “Paying attention to that moving forward could be a campaign issue, especially in rural areas where economic development could stand some improvement. I don’t know that we’ve recently done much here on that, to be honest with you. So it could be a campaign issue. I know it’s an important issue.”

Tester, not on the Commerce Committee, has focused on call completion problems and said that’s another issue that may matter in some states. People are coming to understand these issues better, he said: “That’s another one that quite honestly people don’t understand -- but they’re starting to -- don’t understand that it isn’t just because of a lack of service but because some third-party provider decided to cut you off.”

Many senators sided with Wicker in judging telecom policy important but sometimes off the radar in electioneering. They signaled that powerful Commerce Committee leadership positions hold sway. Several lawmakers on Commerce also benefit from telecom and media industry donations to their re-election funds.

“Not a major campaign issue,” said Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, ranking member of the Communications Subcommittee. “I think people generally care about privacy. And they care about the speed and availability of broadband. But after that, tech and telecom issues can be a little in the weeds for your average voter.”

But Schatz’s campaign website makes a point of touting his Commerce position. The subcommittee ranking member role is listed early on in a long description of Schatz’s career, which said the subcommittee effort is "critical to keeping the Internet open and expanding broadband access across the country and throughout Hawai’i." Schatz chalked such touting up to a desire to display Senate credibility: “To the extent that voters look at how serious you are as a legislator, it may be compelling on that level, but that’s different than saying the issue is going to be a top two or three polling issue.” Schatz will face Republican former state lawmaker John Carroll Nov. 8

The Commerce Committee chairmanship helps Thune’s campaigning, he told us. “In a state like ours, we’re rural, so yes,” said Thune, a member of GOP leadership who has many millions of dollars on hand and is widely seen as a likely victor over Democrat Jay Williams. “Telecommunications and high-speed internet in rural areas, railroads, roads and bridges, aviation, those issues all matter to my constituents.”

Rural Implications

On the Commerce Committee, the other Republicans seeking re-election are Jerry Moran of Kansas and Marco Rubio of Florida, along with Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. They and Schatz are considered favored in the Nov. 8 contests. Moran defeated his GOP opponent in an Aug. 2 primary with 79 percent of the vote, Schatz defeated his Democratic primary challengers with 86 percent Saturday, and Rubio, who initially said he wouldn't seek re-election while waging an unsuccessful presidential campaign, will face GOP primary challengers in Florida’s Aug. 30 primary. Blumenthal didn’t face challengers in the Aug. 9 Connecticut primary.

Senate Commerce has stayed active on telecom policy, particularly in 2016. The committee unanimously cleared spectrum legislation known as Mobile Now (S-2555) and the FCC Reauthorization Act (S-2644) in the year’s early months. Members debated net neutrality and FirstNet. Rubio won wireless industry support for his aggressive spectrum focus, and Blumenthal positioned himself as a consumer advocate with an eye toward such issues as robocalls and set-top box competition. Johnson, both on Commerce and as chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, scrutinized the FCC net neutrality rulemaking.

Thune said telecom is a policy area that may stand out to rural state residents due to implications there. “There are jobs related to it, some states more than others,” Thune said. “I think the main thing in our state is dealing with a lot of the rural telecom issues and we attempt to deal with those through action on the committee or, you know, through advocacy with agencies or that sort of thing. And I think we’ve had success with that. But I think those are issues that matter to people, but probably not as much as other issues.” Thune acknowledged that telecom and media industry stakeholder attention to lawmaker races may come into play. “The main thing that people in the stakeholder community want to see is that you’re trying, that you’re doing whatever you can to move legislation,” Thune added.

“Certainly in my state, access to the rural areas, telecommunications services in rural areas, I wouldn’t call it an election issue, but it’s an important issue that Kansans are aware of, something that’s important to them,” Moran said. “Broadband deployment, FCC decisions in regards to that, has a consequence.” Like Ayotte, Moran said some constituents spontaneously bring up such issues during town halls. “There is often somebody there who is experiencing cell service that’s inadequate or broadband needs to be deployed in our county, could be an economic development official,” Moran said. “So it’s a topic of conversation. But I think the broader issue is jobs, the economy, that kind of thing. This is a topic of conversation but not a decider for folks in elections."

“It’s not a big issue with voters,” agreed Blunt, who won his Aug. 2 primary with 73 percent of the vote. “It should be a bigger issue, particularly with the overreach at the FCC that in my view is really going to slow down innovations that create more access to information. ... The changes are so dynamic that if you actually brought up the topic of net neutrality, even very well-informed people don’t know for sure what the current definition or the current discussion of net neutrality might be. On the other hand, if you said that the government now thinks they’re going to regulate the internet like the telegraph, nobody thinks that’s a good idea. But nobody’s bringing it up on their own.”