Our forthcoming book is The Comeback: The 2024 Elections and American Politics. It includes a chapter on congressional and state elections.
Republicans represent a slight majority of the 60 congressional districts with the highest share of federal workers, including many lawmakers publicly cheering on Elon Musk's hack-and-slash efforts.
Why it matters: At first glance, it seems like DOGE's stabs at slashing the federal workforce mainly affect the solidly Democratic areas in the D.C. metro area.
- But dig a little deeper, and the story changes.
- Speaker Johnson (R-La.) is on the list. So is Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), who leads the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus, and Rep. Tom Cole (R-Okla.), the chair of the House Appropriations Committee.
- Several endangered GOP incumbents — including Reps. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.) and Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.) — are on that list.
By the numbers: According to a Congressional Research Service report published in December, nearly all of the 10 districts with the highest proportions of federal workers are in Washington, D.C., Virginia and Maryland.
- D.C. is essentially a company town where the factory is the vast federal government bureaucracy, as Axios' Cuneyt Dil recently noted. Many of its workers live in D.C.'s surrounding suburbs and exurbs.
- Once you get past the top 10 districts, red states like Oklahoma, Alabama and Texas start to show up.
Zoom in: Beyond D.C., the Defense Department — which isn't being spared DOGE's wrath — accounts for high concentrations in some districts.
- Kiggans and Cole represent districts with large military installations that have long been major employers for their constituents.
- Rep. Nick Begich (R-Alaska), who is in a competitive district, has a large military constituency. But agencies like the Interior Department, FAA and Postal Service also have significant presences, according to the Anchorage Daily News.
