Source: Politics<\/p>\n
Democrats say sweeping government cuts led by Elon Musk have started to awaken a latent opposition to President Donald Trump \u2014 and they\u2019re hoping it will motivate a slew of new down-ballot candidates to run in the years ahead.<\/p>\n
Early interest in running for office is already beginning to rise \u2014 at least one major candidate recruitment organization saw a sharp spike of more than 2,000 new applications pouring in as Musk issued major actions pushing federal workers out. A lot of that web traffic came from Reddit threads of former federal employees considering runs for political office that sprang up last week.<\/p>\n
Capitalizing off the influx, Run For Something will host an \u201cAsk Me Anything\u201d event to answer questions about running for political office on a Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez<\/a>-focused sub-Reddit thread on Friday.<\/p>\n While it\u2019s still early, Democratic strategists said they hope fired federal workers could be potent recruits for next year\u2019s midterms \u2014 and serve as powerful communicators on what the cuts<\/a> from Musk\u2019s Department of Government Efficiency means for voters.<\/p>\n \u201cI expect we will see some candidates this year and next year who will talk about how Donald Trump and Elon Musk fired them while they were working for the American people,\u201d said Amanda Litman, co-founder of Run For Something, a progressive group that recruits Democrats to run for office.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a pretty compelling campaign message,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n About 20,000 people have joined Run For Something since Trump won reelection in November, Litman said, with 10 percent of that coming just in the last week. Democrats, still adrift after their 2024 losses, hope the fury over DOGE\u2019s gutting of the federal government and House Republicans efforts to cut funding to Medicaid<\/a> represent a turning point for the party, giving them tangible grassroots energy to tap into that so far hasn\u2019t manifested at the same intensity as Trump’s first term.<\/p>\n Backlash to the first Trump presidency fueled a wave of candidates with unconventional \u2014 and primarily non-political \u2014 backgrounds to run for office in 2018. That flood of first-time candidates included women like former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.), people of color like New York Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado and former members of the military like Rep. Mikie Sherrill<\/a> (D-N.J.) and Rep. Chrissy Houlahan<\/a> (D-Pa.). They rode the wave of anti-Trump sentiment to retake control of the House<\/a>. They\u2019ve also deepened the party\u2019s bench of talent<\/a>, many of whom are now running for or already won statewide offices.<\/p>\n Now, Democratic groups hope that former federal workers will be among a coalition of non-traditional candidates who they plan to recruit for the midterms. Federal workers, who are \u201calready inclined toward public service\u201d but previously barred from politics, are now \u201cliberated from that constraint, furious and looking for action, [running for office] is a really concrete step that people want to take,\u201d Litman said.<\/p>\n House Republicans in several red districts have already begun to face angry constituents at town halls in recent days over the DOGE\u2019s cuts to the federal workforce. Clips of Republican House members being booed by constituents at town halls went viral on social media. Anti-Musk protesters gathered outside of congressional offices in swing districts in Arizona<\/a>, New Jersey<\/a> and Pennsylvania<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThe town halls, the tele-town halls, the activism from protests over the holiday weekend, it speaks for itself,\u201d said Ben Ray, vice president for federal and gubernatorial campaigns at EMILY\u2019s List, a liberal group that recruits abortion rights supporting women to run for office. \u201cIt\u2019s early days, still, and it\u2019s not going to be a 2017-level reaction, but I think folks are getting fired up for the fight.\u201d<\/p>\n The fresh grassroots energy came after a wave of layoffs hit government workers in recent weeks, and a barrage of news coverage showed how DOGE cuts had upended scientific research funding<\/a> and pushed veterans out of jobs<\/a>. The agency\u2019s officials also potentially gained access<\/a> to private taxpayer data, triggering private panic<\/a> for congressional Republicans. Even Democrats, who had initially expressed interest in working with Musk and DOGE, are now backing away from the effort<\/a>. Several polls released<\/a> last week found a majority of Americans disapprove of Elon Musk<\/a> and DOGE\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n Democrats are moving to harness the backlash, which is already \u201cchanging who we are talking to\u201d to run for office and \u201cwhat we\u2019re talking about,\u201d Ray added. He predicted that DOGE \u201cis probably going to be a major feature in this election, and potentially a definitive one.\u201d<\/p>\n Musk and Trump, for their part, aren\u2019t backing down. Appearing alongside Trump in a Fox News interview<\/a> last week, Musk called the criticism of DOGE an \u201cantibody reaction from those who are receiving the wasteful and fraudulent money.\u201d<\/p>\n The White House did not respond to an emailed request for comment. But when asked by reporters about constituent reaction to the \u201cchainsaw approach\u201d to federal job cuts, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said there was \u201coverwhelming support<\/a>\u201d for it. \u201cThere should be no secret about the fact that this administration is committed to cutting waste, fraud and abuse,\u201d she said. \u201cThe president campaigned on that promise, Americans elected him on that promise and he\u2019s actually delivering on it.\u201d<\/p>\n The anger from voters may be a gift to Democrats, who have struggled to form a coherent message against Trump in his second administration.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen it\u2019s organic, when it\u2019s grassroots anger, then it doesn\u2019t need to be bottled and sold by a political party,\u201d said Tim Hogan, a Democratic consultant.<\/p>\n \u201cDemocrats just need to point to that zeitgeist and show disenchanted voters that people refuse to be steamrolled by this administration,\u201d Hogan said.<\/p>\n