Vivek Ramaswamy Plans to Bail on MAGA Pal Musk at DOGE
Vivek Ramaswamy plans to bail on President-elect Donald Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) to focus on his ambitions to become Governor of Ohio, according to reports.
Sources close to the situation told CBS News that his counterpart at the newly-formed panel, billionaire Elon Musk, has undercut Ramaswamy for much of the last few weeks.
“Vivek has worn out his welcome,” a Trumpworld source told the network.
The Ohio gubernatorial election is scheduled for November 2026 and incumbent Republican Gov. Mike DeWine is term limited.
President-elect Donald Trump picked Ramaswamy and MAGA billionaire Elon Musk to lead the advisory commission tasked with finding $2 trillion in spending cuts after winning the presidential election in November.
If Cincinnati-born Ramaswamy—who told Trump’s transition team of his gubernatorial plans after the election, a source told Politico—does move to run for the post, it will seriously alter the course of DOGE, which is supposed to report back to the President-elect with its recommendations by July 4, 2026.
Citing multiple sources familiar with the meeting, Politico said Ramaswamy was at an all-hands DOGE meeting convened Saturday at SpaceX’s Washington headquarters. Musk was not.
Ramaswamy was tasked with the deregulation file, while “big picture” issues were left to Musk. With the Tesla and SpaceX CEO potentially on his own at the top of the DOGE hierarchy, some inside Trumpworld told the outlet Musk will be able to proceed unencumbered.
“Elon basically runs the show,” one informal Trump adviser noted to Politico. “Time is their biggest enemy. We’ll see.”
Musk has already rowed back expectations for DOGE, downplaying the hope of finding $2 trillion in cuts last week in an interview with political strategist Mark Penn.
“I think we’ll try for $2 trillion,” he said. “I think that’s the best-case outcome, but I do think that you kind of have to have some overage.”
Ramaswamy’s plans to lead Ohio, meanwhile, were given added fuel Friday when DeWine opted to replace Vice President-elect JD Vance in the Senate with his Lt. Gov. Jon Husted.
Husted will serve at least until a special election in November 2026, and sources close to DeWine told ABC News that he chose someone he considered capable of winning the seat again that year and in the following election in 2028.
His appointment clears one potential opponent from Ramaswamy’s way: Husted had been planning to run to replace DeWine next year.
Trump had reportedly encouraged Ramaswamy in recent weeks to consider an appointment to Vance’s Senate seat, but Ramaswamy made clear he preferred the Governor’s office in Columbus. He had already tweeted in November that he was withdrawing his consideration from the Senate seat.
