On Nov. 9, 2026, President Donald Trump nominated Christopher Mufarrige, Director of the Federal Trade Commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, to serve as a Federal Trade Commissioner. The nomination is for a seven-year term beginning Sept. 26, 2026, for the seat previously held by former Commissioner Alvaro Bedoya. The position requires Senate confirmation.
Mufarrige has led the Bureau of Consumer Protection since February 2025, when FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson appointed him to the position. As bureau director, he oversees the FTC unit principally responsible for enforcing federal consumer-protection laws, investigating allegedly unfair or deceptive practices, and developing consumer-protection policy.
Before becoming bureau director, Mufarrige served as chief of staff and attorney adviser to former Commissioner Melissa Holyoak. During the first Trump administration, he served as a senior adviser to the director and deputy director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, where he advised on enforcement, rulemaking, and supervisory examinations involving large banks and nonbank financial institutions. He has also worked in private practice and as in-house counsel and has taught financial-services and consumer-protection law at George Mason University’s Antonin Scalia Law School.
As bureau director, Mufarrige has emphasized combating fraud as a key consumer protection priority, describing the “pervasive fraud that pollutes our economy and drains the savings of hardworking Americans” as a matter of “singular importance to this Administration, this Commission, and the American people.” He has also signaled continued scrutiny of businesses whose services may facilitate fraud, noting that where the Commission identifies “a pattern in a channel leveraged by scammers to reach consumers,” it has scrutinized that channel for compliance with the law, including payment processors and digital marketplace platforms.
If confirmed, Mufarrige would move from leading one of the FTC’s principal operating bureaus to participating directly in Commission-level decisions across the agency’s consumer-protection and competition mandates. Commissioners vote on matters including enforcement actions, administrative complaints, settlements, rulemakings, and policy statements. His experience leading the Bureau of Consumer Protection would bring substantial institutional and consumer-protection experience to that broader role.
The Federal Trade Commission Act establishes a five-member Commission whose members are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. Commissioners generally serve seven-year terms, and no more than three commissioners may belong to the same political party.
The nomination comes while the Commission is operating with only two sitting commissioners, Chairman Andrew Ferguson and Commissioner Mark Meador. If confirmed, Mufarrige would become the Commission’s third sitting Republican member, while two seats would remain vacant. The White House separately withdrew David MacNeil’s nomination for the term associated with former Commissioner Melissa Holyoak in the same November 9 announcement.
What’s Next
The nomination is pending before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. If advanced by the Committee, Mufarrige’s nomination would proceed to the full Senate for confirmation.