Beshear, Cooper Have Strongest Telecom Credentials Among Democrats' Top VP Contenders

Harris is expected to name a running mate by Aug. 7, and her staff has begun interviewing candidates. Political prognosticators are pointing to four top contenders: Beshear, Cooper, Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona and Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro. Observers said Kelly and Shapiro have relatively limited broadband and telecom policy experience compared with Beshear and Cooper. Other contenders include Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.

Brookings Institution senior fellow Blair Levin emphasized “none of the [Democratic] VP candidates will be at odds with Harris” on core telecom policy. They mirror her in backing recent FCC actions like the April order that restored much of the rescinded 2015 net neutrality rules, Levin said: Harris and the contenders also back universal broadband availability, continuing funding for the FCC's lapsed affordable connectivity program and fully disbursing funding from NTIA's $42.5 billion broadband equity, access and deployment program.

Such Democratic harmony “contrasts” with differences between former President Donald Trump and Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, his Republican running mate, on tech and telecom issues like ACP funding, said Levin, who’s also a New Street analyst. Vance is lead Senate GOP co-sponsor of two proposals that would provide ACP with billions of dollars in stopgap funding for FY 2024 (see 2405100046), something many Republican leaders oppose.

Vice presidential candidates rarely have major influence on policy. However, should the president and vice president disagree, Harris would likely be more “open-minded” than Trump about listening to the second-in-command's policy views, Levin said. Strand Consult Executive Vice President Roslyn Layton and other industry officials noted that telecom is often a niche issue during a presidential campaign, and that a vice presidential candidate’s views on FCC policies aren’t a major focus for companies and trade groups now.

North Carolina, Kentucky Experiences

Cooper, North Carolina’s former attorney general, has pushed for broadband deployment and last year urged that the state’s congressional delegation support more ACP funding (see 2309270049). Cooper has also supported community broadband efforts (see 1706290030). Vice presidential contenders who are currently governors will “have a lot to describe” about their record on telecom issues because they’ve dealt with broadband infrastructure programs in their states, said Layton, who served on Trump's FCC landing team during the transition after the 2016 presidential election.

Cooper “recognizes that internet access is a necessity in today’s society and closing the digital divide in North Carolina is one of his highest priorities,” said Nate Denny, the state's Department of Information Technology deputy secretary-broadband and digital equity. He noted that North Carolina so far has awarded $508 million from the American Rescue Plan Act and plans to spend more than $2.5 billion on broadband deployment, affordability and training. In addition, Cooper created the first digital equity and literacy office in the U.S., Denny said.

Cooper “had a personal agenda to get good broadband for everybody in the state long before it became an issue for most other politicians,” said North Carolina Broadband Matters President Doug Dawson. He noted Cooper believes high-speed broadband is key to the state’s prosperity. Cooper “made broadband a top priority and dragged the rest of the government along,” Dawson said.

Broadband advocates gave Beshear, Kentucky’s only prominent Democratic official, high marks for collaborating with Republicans to address the state's significant broadband access issues. For example, the Beshear administration secured $300 million in federal funding for the state’s newly created Broadband Deployment Fund and established the Office of Broadband Development (OBD).

Broadband is an attractive issue for Beshear because it’s a rare bipartisan policy matter that he can address legislatively, said Jeff Budziak, Western Kentucky University political science professor. He noted previous Gov. Matt Bevin (R) also made broadband a policy focus, but Beshear has paid more attention to it. Beshear's increased focus partly stems from more broadband funding being available since he took office in 2020 because Congress subsequently passed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and other measures, Budziak said.

Kentucky Rural Broadband Association Executive Director Tyler Campbell said Beshear’s OBD oversaw two rounds of broadband grant funding to expand fiber investment that will reach more than 34,000 homes and businesses. Lawmakers allocated more than $386 million toward connectivity last year, Campbell said: The Beshear administration and OBD are also continuing to implement $1.1 billion in BEAD funding that NTIA awarded Kentucky. Beshear and state policymakers also prioritized funding for pole replacement costs via the state’s Rural Infrastructure Improvement Fund, Campbell said.

Mixed Pennsylvania Reviews

Shapiro has promoted broadband expansion in Pennsylvania but received mixed reviews on those efforts during interviews last week. Shapiro, the state's former attorney general, also flagged privacy and social media as pressing challenges during a speech last year to the National Association of Attorneys General (see 2304180053).

Sascha Meinrath, Penn State University Palmer Chair in Telecom and X-Lab director, described Shapiro’s broadband work as “benevolent neglect.” If Shapiro has “any sort of broadband strategy, it’s basically ‘allocate the funding that’s federally mandated that they allocate,’” Meinrath said. He believes Shapiro has done nothing “proactive” about spending state money or enacting pro-broadband policies since he became governor in 2023. Shapiro has been reluctant both as governor and previously as state attorney general to challenge Verizon and others in the telecom industry, Meinrath said.

Dan Cohen, a telecom attorney for Pennsylvania local governments, praised Shapiro and called him a strong digital equity proponent. Shapiro has been a “strong promoter” of state broadband expansion who has “pushed hard” on providers to build out their service territories, Cohen said. He credited Shapiro for reaching across the aisle to pass bipartisan bills despite split party control. Shapiro has also been responsive to local governments since he became governor, but has yet to address a state restriction on municipal broadband, Cohen said.

Kelly is the sole Democratic co-sponsor of the Lowering Broadband Costs for Consumers Act (S-3321), which would require the FCC to complete a rulemaking within 18 months to expand the Universal Service Fund’s contribution base to include social media platforms, streaming services and most other major edge providers (see 2311160070). Kelly’s support of that bill is equivalent to Vance’s pro-ACP legislative push, Layton said: ACP could be “meaningful” in the election “because it was a popular program that some 20 million Americans used.”

Kelly’s position on the USF contribution base in S-3321 mirrors what FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr and some congressional Republicans have proposed. However, Democrats are becoming “much more sympathetic” to the possibility of making social media platforms contribute “than they have in the past,” Levin said. He cautioned that the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals’ ruling last week that the FCC’s current USF contribution methodology is unconstitutional (see 2407240043) could “moot” the debate if upheld on appeal.