DOGE cuts pose potential liability for GOP in Virginia elections

Source: The Hill

02/23/25 12:00 PM ET


Cuts to the federal workforce under President Trump are threatening to roil Virginia’s off-year elections this November as Democrats seek to make them a political liability in the battle for control of the governor’s mansion and the House of Delegates. Virginia is home to roughly 145,000 federal employees, along with large swaths of government contractors. Additionally, the state is home to a massive military population.

In a sign of the potential political liability for the GOP, several Democratic candidates are already trying to use the cuts under the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) as a weapon ahead of November. Former Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-Va.) has called the shake-up “a kitchen table issue” in the state, while Virginia House Speaker Don Scott (D) has launched “the Emergency Committee on the Impacts of Federal Workforce and Funding Regulations.”

“What we thought they would do is at least aim first before they started shooting indiscriminately, and they did not,” Scott said in an interview with The Hill. “They decided to come in with a sledgehammer to the government and cause a lot of angst.” Late Friday, Democrats in Virginia’s General Assembly filed a resolution to expand the scope of the special session in progress to address federal workforce cuts. While many Virginia Democrats are raising alarm over the potential consequences the cuts could have on the state, Republicans are dismissing the message as a political “scare tactic.”

Off-year elections in Virginia are unique given the impact politics inside Richmond and the Beltway have on the races, particularly the governor’s race. In 2013, the October government shutdown rocked the state’s governor’s race a month out from Election Day, with then-candidate Terry McAuliffe (D) tying his Republican opponent Ken Cuccinelli to GOP lawmakers, including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who helped spur the 16-day shutdown. During the first Trump administration, Democrats made gains in Virginia that led them to control the governor’s mansion and the state’s Legislature. The Democratic gains were largely seen as a response to Trump.

Read more: https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5158540-trump-cuts-virginia-elections/