Maryland Rep. Johnny Olszewski said there are about 20 vulnerable Republican House members in swing districts that his fellow Democrats need to target for defeat in 2026.
In his first appearance as a Congressman on WYPR’s Midday on Tuesday, Olszewski, a Democrat, said he believes the Trump administration’s actions on government spending, including the firing of federal employees, will catch up with Republicans politically.
“I think this is really bad politics and really bad policy for the American people,” Olszewski said. “As people feel it, their approval, such that it is, will change.”
Olszewski said he will continue to beat the drum that Republicans in Congress and the president have done nothing so far to lower the cost of living, which observers say was a key issue in the 2024 campaign.
“It’s the bread and butter,” Olszewski said. “The kitchen table issues are, I think, what really rally people around our party,” Olszewski said.
In an interview after the program, Olszewski was asked about the news, first reported by the Associated Press, that the acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration, Michelle King, has stepped down.
She resigned over the Department of Government Efficiency’s requests to access information about people who get social security payments.
Social Security’s headquarters is in Woodlawn and is Baltimore County’s largest employer.
Olszewski said it was only a matter of time before DOGE and Elon Musk targeted Social Security.
Olszewski said, “The fact that we have lifetime civil servants who are not partisan in their work, who share the concerns and are unwilling to allow for this unfettered access in a way that has no transparency and no accountability and no oversight is deeply troubling.”
Olszewski said the Trump administration’s actions could cause social security benefits to be delayed.
Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works, an advocacy group for the preservation of Social Security benefits, said of DOGE's efforts that "there is no way to overstate how serious a breach this is. And my understanding is that it has already occurred.”
