Democrats plan to target Elon Musk if they win back control of Congress in the midterm elections over his support for President Donald Trump and involvement with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative.
Politico published a report detailing statements Democrat leaders made about how they plan to investigate Musk and DOGE.
The world’s richest man and nine-figure Republican donor has emerged as a man of intense interest to several potential committee chairs — not to mention scores of rank-and-file Democratic lawmakers — who see multiple fronts for investigations.
Those include Musk’s whirlwind stint as head of the Department of Government Efficiency, his companies’ multibillion-dollar contracts with the federal government and — most recently — his possible role in throttling crucial internet access to the Ukrainian military as the White House seeks to pressure President Volodymyr Zelenskyy into cutting a peace deal with Russia.
“What happens when one guy gets a giant contract from the government and then uses it to do something that shuts down communication in a war that has been extremely important to the United States to support Ukraine?” Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said in an interview. “There’s a lot of different parts of the corruption around Musk.”
Multiple committees are now gaming out how they will take on Musk next term if Democrats win back gavels, with senior members and aides considering how he fits into the various panels’ jurisdiction. Any number of committees in both chambers could stake a claim to probing a piece of Musk’s dealings with the federal government.
“We definitely have a lot of questions about Elon Musk’s role in DOGE and it is something we plan to investigate,” said Sara Guerrero, a spokesperson for top Oversight Committee Democrat Rep. Robert Garcia of California.
It's official: DOGE LIED about how much money it saved our government. A government watchdog just uncovered that DOGE overstated savings by BILLIONS. Trump and Elon's mission to root out "waste, fraud, and abuse" was just another failure.
— Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) August 10, 2026
Some Democrats are already demanding that Musk testify under oath about a report claiming DOGE exaggerated how much taxpayer money it saved.
Others suggested that Musk’s dealings with the federal government could also become a focal point — especially as it pertains to space flight contracts SpaceX has with government agencies,” according to Politico.
Rep. Zoe Lofgren (CA-18) said her panel has more “to learn about the damage that DOGE inflicted on our science agencies” and that Musk and his “DOGE cronies” supposedly “stirred up chaos, ruined careers, and played a large role in illegal grant cancellations and firings of civil servants.”
Rep. Greg Meeks (NY-5) called for “a full accounting of the damage Mr. Musk and DOGE caused.”
This comes as a Texas Democrat gubernatorial candidate just filed a lawsuit demanding access to Gov. Greg Abbott’s email communications with Musk.