Former federal worker elected to New Jersey local office after leaving DOGE agency

Itir Cole tried to take some time off after quitting her job with the federal government early in the Trump administration.

"I tried to read books, I tried to watch Netflix. But a day or two of that, and I was like, okay, I'm good. Now, what?" Cole, 40, told USA TODAY.

Then her husband mentioned offhand that there was an open seat on her New Jersey town's governing body. No one her age or with her life experience was planning to make a bid for the nonpartisan Haddonfield Borough Commission.

So she did.

Cole won her mid-May race by 49 votes, about four months after resigning from the U.S. Digital Service ‒ the federal agency President Donald Trump and entrepreneur Elon Musk rebranded as the United States DOGE Service. A ceremonial swearing in was held May 27.