Arizona State Rep. Alexander Kolodin, a Republican, recently took to X to announce a number of cuts the state is eyeing as part of its own “Department Of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) efforts. The state efforts come after President-elect Donald Trump tasked tech leader Elon Musk and former Republican presidential candidate Elon Musk with recommending cuts to reign in the federal government’s massive waste and an ever-growing bureaucracy. The “DOGE” moniker was applied by Musk.
Republicans recently expanded their lead in the Arizona legislature after picking up two State House seats in the November elections. Arizona provided President-elect Trump’s widest margin of victory any swing state after he narrowly lost in 2020. Trump’s down-ballot effect, in addition to Arizona resident Charlie Kirk’s get-out-the-vote efforts through Turning Point USA, appeared to play a prominent role in empowering state Republicans.
A few weeks after Trump announced the formation of DOGE, Arizona Republicans formally moved to create their own variation of the committee for state affairs. Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen noted that unlike the federal DOGE — which is an unofficial advisory committee that lacks the ability to introduce legislation — Arizona’s committee was not created by the Executive Branch. The Arizona DOGE committee,