POLITICO (“Ramaswamy’s future at DOGE is in doubt as he prepares to announce bid for Ohio governor“):
Vivek Ramaswamy could withdraw from working with the Department of Government Efficiency ahead of his bid for Ohio governor, which he intends to formally announce by the last week in January, according to a person close to the matter.
Ramaswamy’s potential exit could upend DOGE, which aims to reduce government spending by up to $2 trillion by July 4, 2026 — by which time his Ohio gubernatorial campaign will need to be well underway. Following the election, Ramaswamy informed members of the transition that he planned to run for governor, said a person familiar with the transition.
Ramaswamy’s decision accelerated when Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine passed over Ramaswamy to replace Vice President-elect JD Vance in the Senate on Friday, picking instead his own Lt. Gov. Jon Husted.
Multiple people who discussed Ramaswamy and the inner workings of DOGE were granted anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly and to freely discuss sensitive issues.
On Saturday, Ramaswamy showed up at an all-hands DOGE meeting at the SpaceX headquarters in Washington, according to two people familiar with the department’s inner workings. Musk was not present.
The breakdown of labor between Musk and Ramaswamy, according to one person familiar, was that Musk focused on the big picture while Ramaswamy focused on deregulation; the rest of the staff will focus on implementation. Steve Davis, Musk’s right hand man at SpaceX, functions as his DOGE lieutenant, while Brad Smith, a healthcare entrepreneur and Rhodes Scholar, is Ramaswamy’s main point of contact.
Privately, some in Trump’s world see Ramaswamy’s nascent gubernatorial campaign as a way to clear a path for Musk to do his own work at the agency without him.
“Elon basically runs the show,” said an informal adviser to Trump. This person added, “Time is their biggest enemy. We’ll see.”
A CBS News report (“Vivek Ramaswamy expected to depart DOGE“) adds a twist:
People close to Musk have privately undercut Ramaswamy for weeks, frustrated with his lack of participation in the heavy lifting, according to sources familiar with the internal dynamics. There has been friction between the incoming rank and file DOGE staff and Ramaswamy, the sources said, and Ramaswamy has been subtly encouraged to exit.
“Vivek has worn out his welcome,” one person close to Trump said.
Ramaswamy recently met with the Ohio’s sitting governor, Mike DeWine, about the state’s Senate seat left vacant by Vice President-elect JD Vance. But on Friday, DeWine announced he is appointing his lieutenant governor to the post.
Ramaswamy, who sought the GOP nomination in 2024, was at Mar-a-Lago, the president’s West Palm Beach, Florida, estate during the transition. Sources said he was spotted at the bar with Musk one day, scratching out plans for DOGE on a napkin. But the pair haven’t worked closely for a while, sources said.
I didn’t know Ramaswamy existed until his bizarre run for the Republican Presidential nomination last cycle. He made a ton of money speculating in the biotech and social media spaces and apparently doesn’t think he needs to know anything about governing before doing it. It’s not at all shocking that he’s an ideas guy rather than someone who’s going to do the hard work of actually combing through budgets and setting priorities.
