If you’ve spent time on social media lately, you’ve probably seen exhortations to call your members of Congress if you oppose President Trump and Elon Musk’s efforts to slash federal government employment and spending. The offices of people who represent jurisdictions around DC are receiving a lot of calls as a result, aides say.
Don Beyer’s office is seeing “massive numbers of calls,” says Aaron Fritschner, a spokesperson for the representative of Virginia’s Eighth District. What are they saying? “Mostly they hate Elon Musk and what he’s doing, and we’re telling them Congressman Beyer does too and is working to stop him.” (Before a judge paused the deadline for Trump and Musk’s “Fork in the Road” resignation offer Thursday, Beyer published an article warning feds that the deal might not be sound.)
DC Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton’s office has also seen an uptick. “Many of the congresswoman’s constituents are federal workers, so we’ve probably received more calls about these issues than many offices,” says her spokesperson Sharon Eliza Nichols. The office’s interns who answer the phones are told to tell constituents that Norton “strongly supports USAID” and that she “opposes Musk and his aides getting access to Treasury’s payment system and is working with colleagues in the House and Senate to revoke their access.”
April McClain Delaney, who was elected in November to represent Maryland’s Sixth District, is also “responding to a disproportionate call volume,” says spokesperson Sasha Galbreath—even though it’s only been a month since she was sworn in. Staff did get “many calls focused on the inauguration” when Delaney first took office, according to Galbreath, but the constituent reaction to Trump’s executive actions has become even more pronounced in the last few days.
“To put the volume in perspective, we usually receive about 50 calls a day and a dozen overnight,” Galbreath says. But now staffers are fielding more than 150 calls daily. Overnight calls from constituents between Tuesday and Wednesday alone totaled around 600. Once again, “most of these calls are related to Elon Musk’s access to the Treasury and US taxpayer financial info,” according to Galbreath, as well as the administration’s threats to shut down USAID and the Department of Education.
“Letters have also increased similarly,” Galbreath says. “We’ve been receiving upwards of 600 lately versus about 100 before the executive actions per day.”
In a press release last week, Delaney emphasized that her office “is open and ready to help, and that we will be tracking this unpredictable landscape best we can to give guidance to constituents of the 6th District.”
Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.
