Senate Commerce to vet Trump pick for Democratic seat

Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, has scheduled a 10 a.m. hearing June 20 on the nomination of Geoffrey Starks to succeed Democrat Mignon Clyburn on the FCC.

Related: Starks Tapped to Succeed Clyburn at FCC

Clyburn left last week after the President signaled he was nominating Starks. Clyburn could have stayed until the end of the year or until Starks was confirmed, but had signaled in April that she was exiting.

Starks has been assistant bureau chief in the FCC's Enforcement Bureau, which is not a typical launching pad for a commission seat, like, say, a Hill communications counsel would be, though the most recent Republican addition, Brendan Carr, came directly from the FCC as well.

Starks has an undergraduate degree from Harvard and a law degree from Yale. He also founded a community bank.

Like FCC chairman Ajit Pai, he grew up in Kansas, though the city rather than a small town.

His wife is Lauren Thompson Starks, a former Obama appointee. Starks is also a former staffer to then Sen. Barack Obama and a former attorney with Williams & Connolly in Washington.

His Obama-era government service includes serving under Attorney General Eric Holder at Justice as the lead on financial and healthcare fraud.