Sweeping government cuts ignited by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency are motivating some terminated federal employees to consider running for public office.
Thousands of federal workers have been fired in recent weeks, primarily those with probationary status. The layoffs come amid a downsizing of the federal workforce, with the Trump administration focusing on finding ways to rein in government spending.
The firings sparked an increase in posts to a Reddit channel for federal government workers, which urged those who were frustrated and recently laid off to refocus their fury and consider running for public office instead. In the last week, at least seven different threads have popped up with hundreds of comments.
That’s where Tony Ruiz, a disabled Army veteran who was terminated from his job at the Department of Veterans Affairs, began posting about his ambitions to run for higher office.
“I’m running for sure! Starting in city council and then up! What’s a better story than a Veteran fired by the Trump administration and the VA,” he wrote in a thread on Reddit under the username LtJesusUCSB.
Ruiz worked as a Veterans Service representative in Los Angeles, and he was awarded the employee of the quarter and even received a cash bonus, according to files from the Office of Personnel Management he provided to the Washington Examiner. He said he enjoyed helping veterans with their benefits and often handled up to 40 claims a day.
The 47-year-old said he is plotting his next moves. For now, he thinks he’d like to run for city council in San Bernardino, but he sees himself running for Congress one day.
“The plan is first — city council. Hit it small, find some donors who can back me up as far as money. But once I get some popularity, I’ll be on television, and then I can run for Congress,” Ruiz said in an interview with the Washington Examiner.
“I’m Mexican American, bilingual. So all those people over there gonna relate to me because they’re gonna see me as, ‘Oh, he’s Latino,’” Ruiz explained. “Where my platform is, I was a federal employee who was fired by the Trump administration. I’m also a veteran who’s disabled.”
Run For Something, a progressive group that recruits and trains first-time Democratic candidates to run for office, said it has seen a major spike in people signing up to run since the DOGE cuts began. About 20,000 people have signed up to run for office since the beginning of the year.
Amanda Litman, co-founder of the group, hosted a live question-and-answer session on Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY) subreddit channel on Friday after the New York congresswoman urged her followers to run for office on the Bluesky social media platform.
It may not be cool or hip in some circles, but we legitimately do need a massive amount of people to run for office. Flood the school boards, councils, county seats, state legislatures, Congress, etc. Big changes at the top happen when the ground shifts at the bottom. And that can start now.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@aoc.bsky.social) February 22, 2025 at 3:07 PM
“It may not be cool or hip in some circles, but we legitimately do need a massive amount of people to run for office,” Ocasio-Cortez said in a post last week. “Flood the school boards, councils, county seats, state legislatures, Congress, etc. Big changes at the top happen when the ground shifts at the bottom. And that can start now.”
Litman answered questions from about 25 people who asked for tips and advice on how to launch a campaign. Litman told the Bulwark about 500 to 600 people are reaching out to the organization a day and expressing interest in running for office.
Democrats have been caught flat-footed and have struggled to respond to the sheer volume of executive orders, personnel changes, and policy shifts since President Donald Trump’s inauguration. Democrats, in recent days, have held news conferences in front of government agencies and attempted to cast Trump as advancing billionaires’ interests at the expense of the working class.
They are starting to tap into grassroots energy to begin developing opposition to the Trump administration for the 2026 midterm elections. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) held town halls across battleground districts in the Midwest last month in an attempt to invigorate fellow progressives to fight back against Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk.
Democratic leadership has instructed members to invite guests from their districts who have been affected by the federal government cuts to Trump’s joint address to Congress this week. Several federal workers who had been fired from their jobs at the VA confirmed to the Washington Examiner that they plan to be in Washington this week after being invited to the speech by their members of Congress.
Republicans have been supportive of Musk’s efforts to cut down on federal government spending, but they have expressed anxiety about the pace of government layoffs. Trump reaffirmed his support of DOGE efforts Wednesday during a Cabinet meeting and by signing another executive order emboldening the cuts to government waste. The executive order will establish a “DOGE team lead” at each federal agency to work closely with the head of each agency to move toward enacting DOGE’s cuts across the government.
Public polling data on the topic are mixed. A Harvard CAPS-Harris poll released earlier last week showed that 83% of voters would rather see cuts to government spending rather than tax increases, and 77% believe a full examination of government spending is necessary. However, Reuters-Ipsos and a YouGov polling last month found a majority of people disapprove of DOGE’s actions.
Some federal workers who have not been laid off are also considering runs for office, even though there’s a long way to go until the midterm season.
“I saw that thread on Reddit and it inspired me and made me want to take action and do something,” said a worker who is employed at the Department of Health and Human Services, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.
“I’m still waiting to see how everything shakes out, but it would really help these members of Congress to have someone who worked inside of these federal agencies to be at the decision-making table,” the person said. “I’m convinced that none of these congress members have a clue what things are really like inside federal agencies, and I think that is a major problem.”
VA LAYOFFS SPARK CONCERNS ABOUT VETERANS’ CARE: ‘THIS COULD BE LIFE OR DEATH’
As for Ruiz, he said his plans are still in the early stages. He said he’d consider running for office as a Republican and that he’s disappointed to see GOP lawmakers with no “backbone” or ability to stand up to Trump.
“I want to speak out. I’m not afraid of the Trump administration. I want to testify before committees. Can you even imagine me clamoring down on these guys,” Ruiz said with a laugh.
Ruiz is already going on offense by contacting members of Congress about the layoffs, prompting a response from Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI).
The Wisconsin congressman responded in a direct LinkedIn message to Ruiz, writing, “I will be referring you to DOGE, as it seems that at 13:46 on a Monday you should have been working for veterans, not posting trash about your boss President Trump,” according to a screenshot of the message exchange, provided to the Washington Examiner.
Ruiz had already been terminated by the time he reached out to the congressman. The Washington Examiner reached out to Van Orden’s office for comment.
