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Tech billionaire Elon Musk’s departure from the Department of Government Efficiency comes after he landed a starring role in several Democratic campaign launches this year.
As recently as Wednesday, New Hampshire Democrat Stefany Shaheen launched a bid for an open House seat saying that the Tesla CEO was “with a chain saw chasing out our best scientists and doctors.”
Musk was a relative newcomer to politics when he dropped nearly $300 million to help elect Donald Trump last year. He later became the face of the administration’s efforts to slash the size of government, and as DOGE took center stage in the opening weeks of Trump’s term, Democrats sought to tie vulnerable Hill Republicans to Musk.
Still, Musk was unlikely to have remained the center of attention in the lead-up to the 2026 midterm elections. Democrats have already started shifting their attacks toward Trump’s economic policies and Hill Republicans’ legislative agenda, although Musk may not fully disappear from Democratic messaging.
“Elon is, and forever will be, an instantly-recognizable manifestation of the fact that House Republicans don’t work for the American people, they work for the billionaires,” said Viet Shelton, a spokesperson for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.
Musk has said he plans to pull back on his political spending as he departs his government role. Earlier this year, he became a key figure in a Wisconsin Supreme Court race, spending at least $18 million in support of the GOP-backed candidate — only to see the liberal contender win by a comfortable margin.
DOGE could continue to get attention, even with Musk stepping back. The administration, as soon as next week, is expected to send to Capitol Hill a delayed rescissions request to take back unspent funds, our colleagues Paul M. Krawzak and Aidan Quigley report. Speaker Mike Johnson has tied the request to DOGE’s findings.
Starting gate
Reconciliation and resistance: Last week’s House vote on a sweeping reconciliation bill encompassing much of the Trump agenda is already becoming a focal point of the campaign for control of Congress in 2026. Now the action moves to the Senate, where a handful of Republican senators facing competitive reelection battles are coming under intense pressure to support the measure.
Coach is in: Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville launched his campaign for the state’s open governorship this week, likely triggering a competitive Republican primary to succeed him in the Senate from the deep-red state.
RIP: Former New York Rep. Charles B. Rangel, a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus, died this week at 94. The Democrat served 23 terms in the House, starting in 1971, and was the longest-serving member of the powerful Ways and Means Committee at the time of his retirement in 2017.
Pardon me: Former New York Rep. Michael G. Grimm, who served seven months in prison over tax evasion charges, has received a pardon from President Donald Trump.
From Congress to the NFL: Football player Jalen Travis, who was selected by the NFL’s Indianapolis Colts in the fourth round of last month’s draft, speaks to our colleague Justin Papp about his time as an intern in the office of Minnesota Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar.
Fiscal focus: Roll Call columnist and GOP pollster David Winston says congressional Republicans, both fiscal hawks and supply-siders, need to get their collective arms around four key challenges that have created a difficult policy and political environment.
ICYMI
Spanberger to the air: Former Rep. Abigail Spanberger has launched her debut ad in the Virginia gubernatorial race, Roll Call alumna Bridget Bowman reports for NBC News. The Democrat is set to face Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Sears in this fall’s general election, with both unopposed for their party’s nomination.
Endorsements: ASPIRE PAC, the political arm of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, made its first endorsements of the 2026 cycle. The list includes several Democrats competing in primaries — including Esther Kim Varet, who is vying to unseat Republican Young Kim in California — and two candidates in Arizona: Amish Shah, who is seeking a rematch against GOP Rep. David Schweikert, and Deja Foxx, who is competing in a July special election primary to succeed the late Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva. The apparent front-runner in that election — the late congressman’s daughter, Adelita Grijalva — picked up the backing of the Working Families Party earlier this week. On the GOP side, the Republican Jewish Coalition has endorsed four senators for reelection next year: Susan Collins of Maine, John Cornyn of Texas, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Thom Tillis of North Carolina.
Launched: Former Iowa state Rep. Bob Krause is joining fellow Democrat Travis Terrell in the race to unseat Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks in the 1st District. In South Carolina, pediatrician Annie Andrews kicked off a Senate campaign against Graham. Andrews, a Democrat, started a PAC focused on children’s issues after losing a 2022 House bid to Republican Nancy Mace.
#MISEN: A Detroit Regional Chamber poll tested potential matchups in next year’s race for Michigan’s open Senate seat. Rep. Haley Stevens’ campaign touted the survey’s findings, saying it showed she would be the “strongest general election candidate” of the three Democrats running. Meanwhile, the Republican-aligned Senate Leadership Fund argued that the poll showed former Rep. Mike Rogers “well positioned to defeat whichever flawed candidate emerges battered and bruised from the Democrats’ divisive and expensive ‘purity test’ primary election.”
Offense on defense: Democratic voting rights group Defend the Vote plans to invest $10 million to elect “pro-democracy champions” in 2026. In addition, an affiliated group, DTV Action Fund, will spend up to $4 million on efforts to protect election workers, fund nonpartisan GOTV activities and advocate reforms that strengthen democracy.
Nathan’s notes
The eight most recent members of Congress to die in office have all been Democrats.
That amounts to what Roll Call elections analyst Nathan L. Gonzales of Inside Elections describes as an “unprecedented survival streak” for congressional Republicans, especially considering that “nothing is certain except death and taxes,” as Benjamin Franklin famously put it. And yet both of those things are relevant and intertwined today, Nathan writes in his latest dispatch.
What we’re reading
A new landscape: A sweeping data visualization project in The New York Times illustrates how Trump has reordered American politics, creating widening divides along geographic, economic and educational lines.
Midnights become their afternoons: From all-night markups to an overnight debate, the process of passing the budget reconciliation bill is providing fodder for Democrats, NOTUS reports. “When I was a teen, my late mother would often say nothing good happens after midnight,” said Pennsylvania Rep. Brendan F. Boyle. “Now I know what she meant.”
Pardon fallout: John Rowland, a onetime GOP star who served in Congress and later became Connecticut’s governor, was among those pardoned this week by Trump. Rowland, who went to prison twice after two separate corruption convictions, told The Connecticut Mirror that he’s “humbled and appreciative,” but the federal prosecutors and state lawmakers who investigated the cases against him expressed anger at the pardon.
Cease and exist: National Journal sits down with C-SPAN CEO Sam Feist to talk about the public service network’s planned fall show “Ceasefire.” If the name sounds uncannily similar to a certain former CNN debate show, there’s a reason for that.
The count: 8 years
That’s how much older the average House member holding a safe seat is (59.1 years old) than those in races rated competitive by Inside Elections (51.1 years).
Among the 87 House lawmakers age 70 and older (56 Democrats, 31 Republicans), just three hold seats that currently make up the 2026 battleground: Democrats Jim Costa of California and Dina Titus of Nevada, and California Republican Ken Calvert.
More than half of the 63 House members in competitive races are under the age of 50 (17 Democrats and 15 Republicans). Those 70 or older hold just 4.7 percent of the competitive seats.
— By Roll Call’s Ryan Kelly
Coming up
South Carolina Rep. James E. Clyburn hosts his annual fish fry this Friday night in the state capital of Columbia. The former House Democratic whip has announced a pair of special guests: Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee.
Both governors may be spending more time in the Palmetto State as they perhaps weigh presidential bids in 2028.
Photo finish
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The post At the races: A Democratic boogeyman steps aside appeared first on Roll Call.
