The newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) lost one of its leaders, Vivek Ramaswamy, before its efforts even began. Although Ramaswamy said he was leaving DOGE to run for governor of Ohio in the 2026 election, numerous insiders said he was, in fact, pushed out by tech billionaire Elon Musk, his co-head of the department.
It was an unequal partnership from the start. This was primarily due to Musk’s higher profile and the involvement of one of his top loyalists.
Ramaswamy’s rant supporting highly educated immigrants and decrying the American work ethic was said to have annoyed many in the MAGA firmament.
Ramaswamy did not plan to announce his bid for governor until later in the year, but the department structure announced on Monday created a conflict between the two positions. Since Ramaswamy planned to run for governor of Ohio, his priorities would be to his campaign through the November 2026 election. DOGE is expected to have recommendations to cut federal spending by July 2026.
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“Vivek Ramaswamy played a critical role in helping us create DOGE,” Anna Kelly, a spokesperson for the group, said. “He intends to run for elected office soon, which requires him to remain outside of DOGE, based on the structure that we announced today. We thank him immensely for his contributions over the last two months and expect him to play a vital role in making America great again.”
Ramaswamy took to Musk’s social platform X, posting a photo of himself alongside Musk captioned “A new dawn.”
When Ramaswamy accepted his role in the DOGE effort, he took himself out of the running for the Ohio Senate vacancy left by Vice President J.D. Vance. But Ramaswamy met with Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine last week, perhaps having second thoughts. DeWine selected Lt. Gov. John Husted for the job.
Husted was a leading candidate to succeed DeWine. Ohio Republicans such as state Attorney General Dave Yost and State Treasurer Robert Sprague sped up their preparations for their bid for governor in light of Ramaswamy’s signals for the position.
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