Virginia has one of the highest percentages of federal employees in the country — more than 5% of the state’s workforce by some estimates — and Republicans’ internal polls are starting to show the damage from tens of thousands of federal layoffs.
The University of Virginia’s Weldon Cooper Center has projected that 32,000 jobs could be lost in the state this year, many of them federal positions.
“Northern Virginia is filled with people who suffered the consequences of the DOGE cuts, and it’s hard to see them being sympathetic to a Republican candidate who supports the DOGE cuts,” said Whit Ayers, a veteran Republican pollster.
“I suspect this will be an albatross around the neck of every Republican candidate this year,” said Virginia Republican Bill Bolling, a former lieutenant governor.
By the numbers: A private poll done for the campaign of a statewide Republican candidate suggested that just 39% of voters had a favorable view of DOGE.
Nearly half of voters surveyed said they knew of someone impacted by the DOGE cuts, according to results shared with Axios.
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