Caroline A. Crenshaw is an American attorney who has served as a Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). She was first sworn in as an SEC Commissioner in August 2020 and has been the Commission’s sole remaining Democratic member in recent years. Before becoming a Commissioner, she worked in multiple SEC divisions (including examinations and investment management) and served as counsel to former Democratic Commissioners Kara Stein and Robert Jackson Jr., as well as serving as a captain in the U.S. Army Reserve (Judge Advocate General’s Corps).
Based on available reporting, Crenshaw’s departure is the result of her SEC term ending rather than a sudden resignation. Her original term expired in 2024, and she continued serving beyond that expiration (as allowed under SEC rules) until early January 2026, when her extended service concluded and she left the Commission.
Public reporting indicates that Caroline Crenshaw’s extended SEC term was set to end on January 3, 2026; that is described as the date when she would depart the Commission. The SEC’s brief departure statement dated January 2, 2025 does not itself specify an effective date, but later coverage ties her actual exit to January 3, 2026 when her post‑term service window closed.
Paul S. Atkins is the Chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission; he was sworn in as the SEC’s 34th Chairman on April 21, 2025. Hester M. Peirce and Mark T. Uyeda are SEC Commissioners (both Republicans) who serve alongside him on the five‑member Commission, with Peirce originally joining the Commission in 2018 and Uyeda in 2022.
As of the latest available information, no successor to Caroline Crenshaw has been confirmed or publicly named. Under federal law, SEC Commissioners are nominated by the U.S. President and must be confirmed by the Senate, with a requirement that no more than three of the five Commissioners belong to the same political party. Until a new Commissioner is nominated and confirmed to fill her vacant Democratic seat, the Commission operates with fewer than five members.
Yes. Crenshaw’s departure removes the SEC’s last Democratic Commissioner, leaving the remaining three members (Chair Paul Atkins, Hester Peirce, and Mark Uyeda) all Republicans. That shifts the Commission from a bipartisan body with at least one Democratic voice to a 3‑0 Republican lineup, which makes it easier for the Republican majority to approve rules, guidance, and enforcement priorities without internal partisan dissent, potentially affecting the agency’s policy direction and voting dynamics.