Federal workers fired by Musk are running for Congress.| AP
WASHINGTON—When Elon Musk, Trump’s chainsaw wielder, fired them, they did not lie down in despair. They picked themselves up and ran for Congress, where they hope to battle the billionaires.
Continuing what they call their commitment to public service, seven former federal workers, according to a non-partisan non-profit group that doesn’t distribute campaign cash, have jumped into running for Congress this fall. And they’re not the only ones.
“Federal workers are selected on merit, sworn to uphold the Constitution, and trained to make government work for all Americans,” says the group, the Federal Workers United Congressional Slate (FWUCS). “For generations, that standard meant the institutions of the United States were the best in the world. That standard has rusted. (Their emphasis)
“We believe the federal and state government work better when more of its members have actually done the work of government. So we spotlight candidates who have: People who earned their expertise in federal service and are now asking for your vote.”
The candidates worked for a variety of agencies. One, Thomas Pierrillo of Virginia, served one term in Congress, from January 2009 to January 2011, before losing his seat—which includes Charlottesville and surrounding deep-red counties–in the 2010 GOP landslide.
He then worked for the State Department as a special envoy trying to end the Sudanese Civil War, and says he had frequent differences with his superiors during Donald Trump’s first administration.
Others spoke with and got the endorsement of the Progressive Democrats of America, a group dedicated to changing the party from within by ridding it of—among other ills—the influence of K Street lobbyists and corporate campaign contributors. The whole group, with links to their campaign websites, is on the site of the new non-profit, the Federal Workers United Congressional Slate.
The non-profit’s slate does not include incumbent unionists seeking re-election, such as Reps. Donald Norcross, D-N.J., former President of the South Jersey Building and Construction Trades Council, Greg Casar, D-Texas, a former organizer for the Workers Defense Project and now chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, and Jahana Hayes, D-Conn., of the National Education Association, a former National Teacher of the Year, from Waterbury, Conn.
Also not on their list: Independent Dan Osborn, a former Bakery, Confectionery and Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers local union president, and Bob Brooks, the Pennsylvania State Fire Fighters president. Osborn is in a neck-and-neck race with incumbent Sen. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., a multimillionaire. Brooks is the Democratic nominee in the Bethlehem-based 7th District. He is in a toss-up race against Republican incumbent Ryan McKenzie, who has a lifetime 8% pro-AFL-CIO voting record.
Several of the candidates on the group’s list are considered longshots, such as Allisa Ellman of Lockport, N.Y., who seeks to unseat GOP Rep. Claudia Tenney in the state’s 24th District along its Southern Tier.
“I built a career connecting other vets to the help they need and deserve to improve their lives,” former Department of Veterans Affairs employee Ellman says on her website. “When I was laid off by
DOGE, I got to work. I’ve crossed this district countless times, and spoken with so many of you.”
Trillionaire Elon Musk headed DOGE, Trump’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency. He chainsawed his way through the State Department, USAID, and other agencies, chopping off the jobs of tens of thousands of workers.
“What I hear again and again: NY-24 deserves a REAL voice in DC. Washington and Claudia Tenney are bought and paid for. Let’s take back rural NY!” Ellman declares.
Others, such as Trina Swanson, running in a district that stretches from the Iron Range on the Minnesota-Canada border down to the far northern suburbs of the Twin Cities, face an uphill battle.
That’s even though Swanson’s foe, Republican Pete Stauber, has to try to answer questions about the impact of Trump’s chilly relations with—and high tariffs on—Canada and also on persistent joblessness in northern Minnesota. Stauber has a lifetime 30% voting record from the AFL-CIO.
Swanson has organized labor solidly in her corner. The state AFL-CIO endorsed her, and Beth McCuskey, vice president of the Northeast Area Labor Council, said why on Facebook: “Working people up here deserve to have a representative who is accessible, an outspoken advocate for labor unions across our region, and the willingness to have tough conversations.”
And then there’s the smokejumper.
Sam Forstag officially was a Forestry Technician in the U.S. Forest Service, part of the Agriculture Department. But that’s a fancy name for what he did: Fighting the wildfires that rage throughout the West, including his home state of Montana. He seeks to represent the western third of the state—an area the non-partisan Cook Political Report rates as a political toss-up.
Republicans draw 6% more votes in that 1st District than in the average district, the Cook data shows. GOP representative Ryan Zinke is retiring. The western part of the state is more mining-oriented and industrial. Montana’s eastern 2nd District (R+16) is more agricultural.
Unions and progressives back Forstag, who’s already received endorsements from Sen. Bernie Sanders, Ind-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y. Forstag emphasizes strengthening unions, expanding access to affordable health care, and building affordable housing, with union labor.
Besides Virginian Pierrillo, two other State Department veterans seek to enter the U.S. House: Mike Masuda in California’s 5th District and Chris Brackenmeyer in Nebraska’s 1st District.
Masuda faces incumbent Republican Tom McClintock. The 5th stretches from Sacramento’s suburbs to the California-Nevada line and includes the area around Lake Tahoe. After California’s redistricting this year, the 5th is one of the few remaining districts considered “safe Republican.” Both the California AFL-CIO and the California Teachers Association have endorsed Masuda.
Nebraska’s capital city, Lincoln, dominates that state’s 1st District, with almost half of its total population. In the 2024 special U.S. Senate election for the seat he was appointed to, Democratic nominee Osborn narrowly beat Republican Ricketts in the 1st District. In the fall, Ricketts eked out a narrow win for the remaining two years of that same term.
Others on the group’s list of federal workers seeking political office include Lauren Rienhold, who also addressed the Progressive Democrats of America several weeks before the election. She’s running in the solidly Republican Kansas 1st District, which stretches along the state’s entire northern border. But its eastern end, the rapidly growing suburbs of Kansas City, Kansas, is where she’s gaining ground.
After the last census, the GOP-dominated state legislature split those suburbs off from Kansas City itself to try to weaken the base of the state’s sole Democrat, Sharice Davids. It didn’t work. That split may now help Reinhold, a former attorney-advisor in the Social Security Administration, in her race against incumbent GOP Rep. Tracey Mann.
In her campaign, Reinhold emphasizes economic recovery, workers’ rights, reliable rural health care—which is already hurting from the GOP’s Medicare cuts in last year’s ”Big Beautiful Bill”—and protecting federal programs and workers from further DOGE-like devastation. Mann advertises his defense of farmers and his votes against issues, including marriage, affecting LGBTQ people.
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