The Senate changes hands, the White House can no longer install "its own people," is the alarm over Fed independence lifted?

A Democratic takeover of the Senate has sharply reduced the risk that the White House can install loyalists on the Federal Reserve Board, JPMorgan chief economist Michael Feroli wrote in a November 4 research note. Because Fed governors require Senate confirmation, any White House nominee must now be acceptable to Democratic senators—likely including Elizabeth Warren, expected to chair the Senate Banking Committee—or the seat simply stays vacant. The practical stakes of the administration's push to remove Governor Cook have shrunk accordingly, since a successful ouster would not deliver the seat to a preferred pick. The only board seat due to open in the next two years is Chair Jerome Powell's, when his term expires in January 2028, meaning his successor must clear a Democratic-controlled Senate or the position remains empty. Feroli cautioned that the president retains nomination power and other administrative and legal levers to pressure the central bank, so the guardrail is partial. The next thing to watch is how Kevin Warsh, whose chair term runs to May 2030, cultivates Congress—Feroli said Warsh must spend less time looking out the window and more time walking the Capitol's corridors if he wants a second term.