On May 11, 2022, the US Senate confirmed Alvaro Bedoya as Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Commissioner. Bedoya was nominated in September 2021 to replace Rohit Chopra, who left the agency to lead the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Once he is sworn in, he will join Chair Lina M. Khan and Commissioners Christine Wilson, Noah Joshua Phillips, and Rebecca Kelly Slaughter.

Bedoya was voted in with 51 votes in favor and 50 against, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the deciding vote. Of the current Commissioners, the two Republicans (Wilson and Phillips) and remaining Democrat (Slaughter) were confirmed unanimously. Chair Khan, a Democrat, was confirmed 69 to 28, with three senators absent.

Bedoya is a visiting law professor at Georgetown Law, where he was the Founding Director of the Center on Privacy & Technology. Alvaro previously served as Chief Counsel of the US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law.

The FTC had been operating with only four Commissioners since September 2021.

The FTC press release about the confirmation can be found here.