New Group Aims To Dismantle Red State Bureaucracies

By now, most Americans have probably heard of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Spearheaded by Elon Musk, the watchdog group has been instrumental in identifying the institutional waste plaguing America’s vast and unaccountable federal bureaucracy.

While DOGE has received much-deserved attention for its invaluable work, widespread bureaucratic waste is hardly an issue exclusive to the federal government. Across America’s 50 state governments, taxpayer money is similarly being used to subsidize profligate spending projects and feckless unelected bureaucrats whose interests often run counter to those of voters — even in states run by Republicans.

If left unchecked, this unaccountable fourth branch of government threatens to poison and destroy the very constitutional system established by the Founding Fathers. Given such high stakes, some conservative activists are stepping up with an antidote they believe can help cure this pervasive disease.

Launched on Wednesday, the State Leadership Initiative (SLI) is a coalition-building organization aimed at ensuring Republican-run “red states” operate in the best interests of GOP voters. In collaborating with like-minded groups, the initiative seeks to slash needless regulations and spending, appoint conservatives to important state government positions, and advance critical legislation across the country.

“These red state bureaucracies and the swamps in these red states are very real. They may be smaller than the federal government, but they are incredibly powerful and the largest impediment to the change that we need to see,” SLI President and Co-Founder Noah Wall told The Federalist.

Red States Gone Rogue

According to Wall, the impetus behind the State Leadership Initiative came about following conversations he had with SLI Co-Founder Nate Fischer about the role of states in America’s federalist system of governance. The SLI president noted how in modern times, state governments are largely “considered [to be] almost an afterthought,” and have effectively become “clients of the federal government” when it comes to key implementing policies and programs.

“Most of the action takes place on the federal level, but that’s not how it’s supposed to be historically,” Wall said. “States were supposed to play the important role in leading and guiding their residents and their communities to advance their values. … They were designed to be distinct and separate from [the federal government].”

Conversations between Wall and Fischer about how states — particularly those controlled by Republicans — can “distinguish themselves” in the current system led to examinations of existing state governments, their policies, regulations, and more. What they soon discovered, according to Wall, is that “the current state of red states is that they are effectively blue states with lower taxes.”

As an example, the SLI president cited figures from an August 2024 analysis by George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, which ranked states according to their total number of regulatory restrictions. The study found that, as of 2023, several Republican-run states were more regulated than those run by Democrats.

Red states such as Texas (5th) and Louisiana (10th), for example, were ranked higher on the list than blue states like Colorado (12th) and Maryland (21st).

Wall also noted figures from the American Legislative Exchange Council’s “Rich States, Poor States” 2024 report, which found higher numbers of public sector employees in numerous GOP states than in Democrat ones. Taken from the U.S. Census Bureau, the 2022 data shows that red states such as Wyoming, Kansas, and Nebraska boast more public employees per 10,000 residents than blue states like New York, Vermont, and California.

Speaking with The Federalist, SLI Co-Founder Nate Fischer attributed Republicans’ failure to address these expansive bureaucracies in their states to the “managerial system that pervades our institutions.” He specifically cited colleges as an example of this dynamic, in which leftists capture an institution and then status quo Republicans accept it without pushback.

“Politics ends up producing red states [that] have largely accepted the same form of regime as all these other institutions that have drifted left,” Fischer said. In “blue states, [Democrats] have a structure that enables their aggressive pursuit of their political agenda. In many cases, Republicans kind of have a structure that is fundamentally opposed to their agenda. So, most of the time [Republicans] will stick to kind of easy policies on the margins [rather than enacting substantive changes].”

The Game Plan

The State Leadership Initiative is adopting a multi-faceted approach to deal with these pervasive problems, according to Wall.

The first prong of this plan is to form leadership teams in each of the group’s initial target states: Florida, Indiana, Texas, West Virginia, and Wyoming. SLI is currently in the process of staffing these teams.

According to Wall, once onboarded, these conservative activists will “start working on getting aligned individuals placed on [state] boards and commissions,” where they can have a “quick impact.” The SLI co-founder noted how such boards “oversee everything from state investments to university systems, so much can be accomplished with effective oversight.”

“There’s so many ways that these states have governance structures that include involvement from citizens of the state. We’re just not using all of those levers the way that we need to,” Wall said. “We saw this as a particular opening to be able to quickly start getting people engaged as we build out our roundtables and as we start engaging people in this process.”

But recruiting and deploying quality conservative talent into these positions is only part of SLI’s strategy. The organization is also seeking to build out coalitions comprised of like-minded groups and activists throughout these states to advance its agenda.

This includes working alongside groups such as the State Freedom Caucus Network to pass legislation critical to dismantling these red states’ overzealous bureaucracies and cutting wasteful spending. Wall specifically noted how freedom caucus legislators oftentimes don’t possess the resources and support enjoyed by the establishment, and that SLI intends to provide that backup through its collaborative partnerships with other conservative organizations.

“Right now, there’s very little infrastructure that will stand up and publicly support the legislators that are out there” fighting for our interests, Wall said. “When legislators are willing to stand up to do the right thing, there needs to be a support network there to back them up.”

The Heritage Foundation and Heritage Action, Center for Renewing America, and the Job Creators Network are among several organizations that SLI is intending to partner with to accomplish its mission.

Speaking of the organization’s launch and mission, Heritage Foundation President and SLI Board Member Kevin Roberts told The Federalist that the creation of SLI sends a message that “the era of [conservatives] playing defense is over,” and that “it’s time to go on offense.”

“If we want to take back our country, we need more than just good intentions — we need leaders willing to wield power effectively,” Roberts said. “For decades, the left has built an empire of influence while conservatives have simply tried to slow them down. That ends now.”

The Road Ahead

While expressing optimism about the State Leadership Initiative’s launch and future, both Wall and Fischer acknowledged potential challenges ahead. Specifically, the co-founders emphasized the need to get conservatives to care about the issues impacting their states as much as those implicating the federal government.

“With exciting stuff happening in D.C., it’s easy for people to lose focus on the state and shift all their energy, attention, and ambitions” away from their states, Fischer said. “At the same time, a lot of what’s happening there is really … setting the stage for state leaders to step up and reclaim a lot [of the power] that, historically, has been grabbed by the feds.”

Wall added that it’s critical for SLI to ensure a “vision of what a state can be is translated in a way that people actually buy into, and then continually demonstrate the need [for people] to get involved and stay engaged.”

Americans interested in working with SLI can find more information at its website.

Shawn Fleetwood is a staff writer for The Federalist and a graduate of the University of Mary Washington. He previously served as a state content writer for Convention of States Action and his work has been featured in numerous outlets, including RealClearPolitics, RealClearHealth, and Conservative Review. Follow him on Twitter @ShawnFleetwood