Fate of Net Neutrality Could Hinge on Florida, Arizona Recounts

Tuesday’s sweeping Democratic victories in the 2018 midterm elections, which gave the party a decisive majority in the United States House of Representatives, spells good news for the future of an open internet. According to a Bloomberg News report this week, House Dems plan to introduce new legislation to reverse the FCC’s elimination of Obama-era net neutrality protections. With what now appears to be a Democratic majority of approximately 30 seats, that legislation seems certain to pass the House—but the Senate is another story. Republicans held control of the upper chamber in the November 6 elections, dimming the chances considerably of any net neutrality legislation that comes out of the House succeeding there. But there remains a chance that even a Republican-controlled Senate could approve new net neutrality laws, and that chance may rest on the outcome of three Senate races that have yet to be decided. In May, using a rule that allows Senate members to call a vote on any issue once they obtain enough majority support from fellow senators on a signed petition—circumventing the Senate majority leader’s ability to block any vote—Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey introduced a bill to restore net neutrality rules, as AVN.com reported.   That bill passed with the support of three Republicans: Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and John Kennedy of Louisiana. If all three continued to support net neutrality legislation, Democrats could still pass a net neutrality bill—if they win two of the three Senate races that remain undecided.  In Florida, incumbent Democrat Bill Nelson apparently lost his reelection bid to the state’s outgoing governor, Donald Trump-supported Republican Rick Scott, on Tuesday. But as ballots continued to be counted throughout the week, Nelson’s deficit has closed to fewer than 15,000 votes, or 0.18 percentage points, well under the 0.25 point margin required to trigger an automatic recount of all votes—by hand.  Nelson strongly supports net neutrality rules and voted in favor of Markey’s resolution. In Arizona, Democrat Kyrsten Sinema has overturned her election night deficit to Republican Martha McSally in the continuing vote count and as of Friday afternoon led by about 9,000 votes, or half of a percentage point, but Republicans have filed a lawsuit to stop count of mail-in ballots, which account for about 75 percent of all votes in the state.  Sinema’s position on net neutrality is somewhat unclear, however. As a congressional candidate in 2014, she stated her support for net neutrality unequivocally. But two years later, she was one of just five House Democrats who sided with Republicans on a bill to prevent the Federal Communications Commission from regulating rates that internet providers charge their customers, a bill that was seen as a referendum on net neutrality. Finally, in Mississippi, a race between incumbent Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith and Democrat Mike Espy ended with neither candidate earning 50 percent of the vote, forcing a runoff election later this month.  Espy appears to have no publicly stated position on net neutrality. Photos by US Senate (Bill Nelson, l) / US House (Kyrsten Sinema, r) / Wikimedia Commons Public Domain