Georgetown visiting law professor Alvaro Bedoya has been confirmed as a member of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), following a Senate vote Wednesday.

The tally to confirm Bedoya was 51-50, strict along party lines, requiring Vice President Kamala Harris to cast the tiebreaking vote. Bedoya’s presence on the FTC will return the agency’s Democratic majority under Chair Lina Khan.

“Alvaro’s knowledge, experience, and energy will be a great asset to the FTC as we pursue our critical work,” Khan said in a statement following the vote.

Bedoya will join Khan and Commissioner Rebecca Kelly Slaughter to form the FTC’s Democratic majority. Commissioners Noah Joshua Phillips and Christine Wilson are Republicans.

In a statement released on Twitter, Bedoya said he was “deeply grateful” for those who supported his nomination. His term will expire in September 2026.

According to his bio on the Georgetown Law website, Bedoya is founding director of the law school’s Center on Privacy and Technology. He has written a paper on unregulated facial recognition technology used by police that prompted a series of hearings before the House.

He previously served as chief counsel of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology, and the Law, where he conducted oversight on mobile location privacy and biometrics and contributed to other privacy-related bills.

Aaron Nicodemus covers regulatory policy and compliance trends for Compliance Week. He previously worked as a reporter for Bloomberg Law and as business editor at the Telegram & Gazette in Worcester, Mass.

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