Report: About 444,000 federal jobs threatened by Trump and Musk held by Midwesterners

There are more than 440,000 civilians working for the federal government in Heartland states whose jobs are being threatened by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. According to a report from the Congressional Research Service published last December, an estimated 444,000 out of more than 2 million federal workers are in Heartland states in the Midwest. Many of these workers are employed in the rust belt swing states won by President Donald Trump in the 2024 election. Some of the most employed Heartland states include:

• Pennsylvania: 66,079
• Michigan: 29,610
• Wisconsin: 6,174

Close to 1 million of the federal workers live in states that voted for Trump last November.

CNN: Close to 1 million federal workers live in red states that voted for Trump in the last election. pic.twitter.com/HquE2DsOBE

— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) February 24, 2025

On Saturday, all federal employees received an email from the Office of Personnel Management (OMB) at Musk’s direction, urging workers to justify their employment. All workers were compelled to respond with a list of five bullet points of what they accomplished in the past week. Musk said on X that a failure to respond would “be taken as a resignation.” The OMB then sent an email on Monday reversing course, saying responses were voluntary rather than mandatory.

Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week.

Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation. — Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 22, 2025

The move prompted a lawsuit from a coalition of unions and groups fighting against the Trump administration’s layoffs and cuts. The lawsuit claims the move should be voided by a judge on the basis that the administration did not follow proper procedure. In the first five weeks of Trump’s second term, Musk has overseen a widespread effort to reduce the federal workforce, including offering nearly the entire workforce the opportunity to take a buyout before a massive wave of layoffs. Up to 75,000 workers reportedly took the buyout, while the official number of layoffs could soon surpass 100,000. Despite an air traffic controller worker shortage that predates Trump’s second term, the administration has laid off hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration workers. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said the layoffs only affected workers who were “not the highest skilled members” of the FAA; those workers included some aviation safety assistants and maintenance mechanics.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy says the hundreds of FAA employees fired last week, some aviation safety assistants and air traffic control maintenance mechanics, were “not the highest skilled members of the FAA.” pic.twitter.com/8tnhWRL8zT

— Heartland Signal (@HeartlandSignal) February 20, 2025

The layoffs came after North America has endured several plane crashes from the past four weeks that have left a total of 84 people dead.