WASHINGTON — Laura Dodson and other federal workers, who have long been the economic backbone of the nation’s capital and suburbs, are again worried about losing their jobs.
During the day former president donald trump ‘s administration, her office under the U.S. Department of Agriculture, was told it would be relocated. About 75 people were to be relocated to Kansas City, Missouri, Dodson said, but fewer than 40 actually moved. A rushed process that ignored the need to find homes, jobs for spouses and schools for children led to retirements, she said, and some taking other federal jobs, ultimately hurting the agency.
Now that Trump is proposing to move up to 100,000 federal jobs from Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia under his Agenda 47 plan, federal workers are again worried about an abrupt move. The Republicans’ proposals are raising fears amid an unusually competitive U.S. Senate race in a closely-held Democratic Maryland which could determine control of the Senate, even with the Republican candidate called the plans “crazy.” The proposals could also hurt Trump’s chances of winning Virginia, a state he lost in 2016 and 2020, where a U.S. Senate seat widely seen as safely Democratic is also on the ballot.
“It creates a lot of fear and discomfort in the workplace because you’re dealing with these strong, negative, anti-federal employee positions and the uncertainty about what could happen to your job, your home, your livelihood,” said Dodson, who is acting vice president of Local Chapter 3403 of the American Federation of Government Employees, which represents the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service.
And the concerns don’t stop there. Federal workers are also worried about “Project 2025,” a proposed overhaul of the federal government, crafted by longtime Trump allies, that would cut thousands of jobs and strip civil service protections for some federal workers. The former president has repeatedly distanced himself from the proposal this summer.
But the plan still worries Michael Knowles. He said it calls for the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services presence in D.C. to be “skeletonized,” and that agency employees with operational or security roles should be rotated to offices in the United States.
Knowles, who is president of AFGE Local 1924, said most of his members have taken an oath to uphold the Constitution and faithfully administer the laws of the United States. He said the members, who all work in the National Capital Region, are committed to the mission of public service.
“And they would do what they had to do to accomplish that mission,” Knowles said. “But I think the employees would be averse to arbitrary or capricious decisions that didn’t seem to make any business or operational sense.”
Trump’s campaign did not respond to requests for comment.
According to statistics, the District of Columbia has the largest number of federal civilian employees, with approximately 160,700 jobs. Congressional Research Service. Maryland and Virginia are among the top four jurisdictions, with about 138,940 in Maryland and 140,400 in Virginia. California has about 142,040.
The proposals to relocate large numbers of federal workers have angered local leaders in the Washington suburbs in both Maryland and Virginia. In Maryland, a heavily white state where Trump is deeply unpopular, it is widely seen as retaliation against the former president, who won just 32% of the vote there in 2020.
Trump in the headlines when he was in office, when he denigrated Baltimore, Maryland’s largest city, as a “disgusting, rat- and rodent-infested mess.”
Angela OokbrooksPrince George’s County’s top administrator and the Democratic candidate for the Maryland Senate race, described Trump’s views on the federal workforce as “another reason why we absolutely must put Donald Trump behind us.”
“Former President Trump is a ruthless leader, vengeful in every way possible, and what he says about actually harming federal employees is evil,” Alsobrooks said after returning from the Democratic National Convention last month.
Former governor. Larry HoganHer Republican opponent, condemned the relocation proposals as “crazy,” saying they “would be devastating for the region, the state of Maryland and bad for the federal government.”
“It’s like, you know, Trump trying to turn the federal government into one of his failed casinos, where he thinks he can do whatever he wants,” Hogan, who has long been one of the GOP’s fiercest Trump critics, said in an interview. “I think it would undermine our entire democracy.”
Businesses that provide services to the thousands of federal workers fear the threat of a domino effect from the proposed changes. At Census Auto Repair & For example, Tay Gibson, manager of Sales at a store across the street from the U.S. Census Bureau headquarters in Suitland, Maryland, says his store would feel the impact immediately.
“I would hate to see federal workers leave,” Gibson said. “That would also mean businesses leaving, and that would hurt small businesses like myself.”
Libby Garvey, chairwoman of the Arlington County Board in suburban Washington, Virginia, emphasized the potential hit to the local economy.
“If a large portion of (taxpayers) suddenly lose their jobs (or have to) relocate, that would be a huge hit to our local budgets, impacting our ability to pave roads, ensure clean water, ensure public safety, provide fire, police, emergency personnel and good schools,” Garvey said.
Karen Hult, a political science professor at Virginia Tech, said the move could hurt Trump’s chances in Virginia.
“Federal workers in Northern Virginia, and in the D.C. metro area in general, are really kind of a voting bloc,” Hult said. “The other thing, of course, is all the contractors — the Beltway bandits. They make a big difference, too.”
Hult also said the idea of relocating federal workers is resonating with Virginia residents outside the northern part of the state, who may be distrustful of bureaucracy in Washington, D.C.
Filipe Campante, a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University who focuses on political economy and urban and regional issues, noted that there’s a reason capitals exist, with federal workers nearby. Physical presence, he said, is necessary for the face-to-face interactions that are important for maintaining accountability.
While Trump and his supporters see the move as a positive in terms of shifting the “deep state” away from the seat of government, Campante said it also has a downside.
“I think it’s a positive factor for accountability that you have civil servants who also serve as checks on political appointments, and this would be weakened by taking these people away from where the center of government is, so I think from that perspective it would reduce accountability,” Campante said. “So it depends on whether you think this accountability is good or not.”
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White reported from Annapolis and Suitland, Maryland.
