Patience with Elon Musk is running thin in some corners of the GOP as party operatives worry he is galvanizing Democratic voters against President Donald Trump despite his willingness to open his pocketbook for Republicans.
Throughout Trump’s first few months back in office, Musk, who is taking a break from his technology empire to spearhead a sweeping rollback of the federal government, has earned mixed reviews from supporters of the president.
Republicans generally back his work atop the Department of Government Efficiency, with Musk serving as a political “shield” for the president amid widespread firings of federal workers. But, at the same time, some in the GOP have suggested that Musk and DOGE are animating voters as they move to slash or entirely shutter federal agencies.
Musk’s special government contract is set to expire before the summer, with DOGE dissolving in 2026, but multiple Republican strategists previously told the Washington Examiner that Trump might ask him to leave before his tenure runs out.
Tuesday’s result in Wisconsin’s Supreme Court race poured even more fuel on the fire as Judge Brad Schimel lost by 10 points despite a $25 million infusion from Musk.
Republicans also underperformed in a special election to replace Trump national security adviser Mike Waltz, with GOP candidate Randy Fine winning by 14 points after Walz won reelection there in November by 33 points. Musk’s outside group, America PAC, invested in the race but to a much smaller extent.
“Elon’s definitely on the hot seat,” one veteran Republican campaign strategist with close ties to the White House told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday.
“DOGE is doing good work, but he made this Wisconsin race all about himself — showing up to the rally wearing a cheesehead,” the person said, referencing Musk’s Sunday appearance at a rally in Wisconsin where he donned Green Bay Packers headgear. “He basically invited every Democrat in the state to personally come out and vote, and that type of s*** obviously doesn’t help.”
“I think we all want to get rid of waste and corruption in the federal government, but many of us have been worried about how Musk has been dismantling things so quickly,” one senior GOP Senate aide, granted anonymity to speak freely, added Wednesday. “I think last night’s result in Wisconsin is a warning that either DOGE slows things down or we cut ties with Musk altogether.”
“At this point, I’d imagine folks inside the White House, maybe even President Trump himself, are wondering if Musk wouldn’t be more helpful on the outside, as just the money man,” a former Trump administration official suggested. “He’s just drawing too much heat. DOGE has already gotten agencies to submit their reduction plans. We don’t really need him anymore, at least on the inside.”
Other Republicans, especially elected lawmakers, have been more hesitant to criticize Musk’s role in government, and many are still loudly supportive of his actions.
“I think Musk helped. Democrats are just all fired up. Trump derangement syndrome is alive and well in Wisconsin,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) told the Washington Examiner. “They really turned out their base. They got 1.3 million votes; that’s a lot for April elections.”
Publicly, the White House is denying that Trump’s patience with Musk is wearing thin.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt slammed Politico following a Wednesday report stating that the president has privately told his top advisers that Musk will soon be departing federal service.
“This ‘scoop’ is garbage,” she wrote on X on Wednesday afternoon. “Elon Musk and President Trump have both *publicly* stated that Elon will depart from public service as a special government employee when his incredible work at DOGE is complete.”
“Yea, fake news,” Musk said in response to Leavitt’s post.
Still, Democrats, who have attempted to use anxiety over DOGE to weigh down Trump’s approval ratings, were quick to tie Musk not only to Wisconsin’s results but also Republicans’ closer-than-expected victory in the Florida special elections.
Democrats have struggled to find a cohesive message to Trump since being swept out of power in November, with the election results offering them a chance to recenter the conversation around Musk.
“In the state that Donald Trump had just won, Elon Musk pours millions and millions of dollars into it. It wasn’t even close. They got wiped out in Wisconsin,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) told reporters Wednesday morning on Capitol Hill. “That’s the kind of energy that we’ve been seeing as House Democrats from the very beginning of this Trump presidency, despite the efforts by some to project this notion that House Democrats, Senate Democrats, the Democratic Party, are cowering. We’re not cowering. We’re beating them over and over and over again.”
Democratic strategist Jon Reinish suggested that “without [Trump] at the top of the ticket,” Musk’s election involvement is flat-out hurting Republicans.
“It’s a referendum on Elon Musk, which will — and should — provoke a lot of talk, not inconsiderable hand-wringing and some action right-of-center,” he said of Tuesday’s results. “The question being, is the relationship worth it? If his $100 million doesn’t deliver in a localized, fairly obscure race, is the pact that valuable? Is the lucre and the X platform worth the clear backlash? Open question and one that I wager the Right will now need to grapple with.”
Outside of the off-year elections, Musk was the single largest donor to Trump’s election campaign and promised in March to put $100 million into his political operation.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin, Wisconsin party Chairman Ben Wikler, and Florida party Chairwoman Nikki Fried similarly targeted Musk on a Wednesday press call.
“Voters gave us the clearest evidence yet that Elon Musk and Donald Trump are on the ropes,” Martin stated. “Musk poured tens of millions of dollars into the Wisconsin Supreme Court race, promoted a million-dollar giveaway, and he gave his favorite candidate a microphone on his social media platform X, all as Tesla prepared for the possibility of hearings in the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Yes, Wisconsin voters decisively rejected his influence and chose people over billionaires. It wasn’t even close.”
Fried argued that, despite Democrats losing both the 6th Congressional District special election and another in the 1st District, Florida was back in play for the midterm elections and beyond thanks to a highly motivated grassroots.
DUFFY SAYS NO ‘BEEF’ WITH MUSK AND DOGE DESPITE ‘BUMPY’ START
“Instead of trying to buy votes like Elon Musk,” she explained, “we put a down payment on our future, and we’re going to make Republicans pay for it in the long run.”
Wikler took a shot at Musk directly, gleefully declaring that “Democrats are back” after donning a cheesehead of his own.