Musk Connections: SpaceX, X (formerly Twitter), Boring Company
Other Corporate Connections: Board of Advisers, Atlas Society; Former owner, Mr. Yogato; Former owner, Thomas Foolery
DOGE Deployments: “Day-to-day leader.” SSA, GSA
Musk’s Long-Time Right-Hand Man
- Davis was appointed CEO and President of the Boring Company in 2018. The Boring Company is an infrastructure company that claims to be building a system of tunnels in cities across the country. By digging tunnels underneath urban environments, the company claims it will “solve traffic, enable rapid point-point transportation and transform cities.”
- Initial reviews of the Boring Company’s tunnels found they failed to be the project that Musk hyped them up as. Musk claimed his tunnels would be able to sustain mass transit, with autonomous vehicles going faster than 100 miles per hour. Among several drawbacks, his tunnels seem to mostly fit individual cars, are likely to result in bottlenecks, and very likely will not be able to match the capacity of already-existing subway systems.
- Technology journalist Paris Marx criticized the entire project as the “Bullshit Company,” arguing that “He [Musk] wants credit for putting vehicles in tunnels despite us having run trains in tunnels for over a century and buses in them for several decades. Elon Musk is not an innovator; he’s a narcissist who thinks he knows better than the experts in the fields he decides to enter.”
- Davis started working at SpaceX in 2003 but has been involved with Musk since 2002, just after Musk and Thiel sold PayPal. He is said to be a hard-line Musk loyalist.
Day-To-Day Leader Of Doge
- The New York Times described Davis as the “day-to-day leader of DOGE.” He is reportedly the main person in charge of the operation. His authority seemingly surpasses the actual appointed head, Amy Gleason.
- Davis is used by Musk as an aggressive cost-cutter at his companies. Musk compared him to chemotherapy: “‘Steve is like chemo,’ Mr. Musk said at a transition meeting before President Trump took office. ‘A little chemo can save your life; a lot of chemo could kill you.’”
- Davis helped Musk construct DOGE after Trump was elected. He was in charge of interviewing potential DOGE recruits, and “met with agencies that employed engineers to assess the technical talent that DOGE might tap, three government officials said.”
- Davis reportedly pushed government officials to allow him to send government-wide emails. This push for access suggests he may have played a large role in emailing the government-wide “Fork in the Road” resignation offer in January.
Davis Was In Charge Of Slashing Costs At X And Spacex, Leading To Disastrous Consequences
- Davis was known for meticulously cutting costs at Musk’s companies. He was so involved in the restructuring of Twitter after its purchase that he, his wife, and newborn reportedly lived in makeshift quarters at Twitter’s headquarters.
- Court documents from lawsuits filed after the Twitter take-over indicate that Davis “pushed workers to violate rent contracts and demanded they violate local permitting laws — all to meet Musk’s cost-cutting goal.”
- In 2007, Davis’ cost-slashing led to a rocket mishap at SpaceX: “Mr. Davis removed components from SpaceX’s Falcon 1 rocket that prevented fuel from sloshing inside the vehicle, three former colleagues said. That caused the fuel to unbalance the rocket during a test flight, and it shut down midair before reaching orbit.” The March 2007 launch failure was sponsored by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the US Air Force (USAF).
Davis Helped Musk Run America Pac, A Super Pac That Was Accused Of Breaking Election Laws And Abusing Its Workers
- Davis helped run Musk’s Super PAC, America PAC. He helped imagine a scheme to pay registered voters $47 for signing a pledge that would identify them as potential Trump voters in the lead-up to the 2024 Presidential election.
- America PAC hired canvassers and maintained abusive working conditions for them. In October 2024, Wired reported that “America PAC door knockers were flown to Michigan, driven in the back of a U-Haul, and told they’d have to pay hotel bills unless they met unrealistic quotas.”
- America PAC hosted a $1 million giveaway for registered voters in battleground states who signed a petition supporting the Constitution. The PAC was sued by Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner for the giveaway. It was also criticized by “some election experts who say it is a violation of the law to link a cash handout to signing a petition that also requires a person to be registered to vote.” One day after the election, Pennsylvania judge Angelo Foglietta denied Krasner’s bid, allowing the giveaway to continue.
- In March 2025, Elon Musk personally donated $1 million to a man who signed a petition opposing “activist judges” in the midst of a Wisconsin Supreme Court election. America PAC also announced that anyone supporting the petition would receive $100.
Davis Helped Musk Secure Government Contracts And Regulatory Approvals At Spacex And The Boring Company
- Davis opened SpaceX’s D.C office in 2008. In Washington, he negotiated with Federal agencies for SpaceX regulatory approvals. Among his projects was the SpaceX launchpad in Boca Chica, Texas. The project faced inquiries and regulatory requirements from the FAA, Texas Department of Transportation, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, to name a few.
- The Boring Company has had to navigate a “morass of morass of national, state and local rules to build its tunnels” and has faced a litany of regulatory challenges. Davis was responsible for persuading public officials to score contracts and approvals for projects across the country.
- During Davis’ leadership, the Boring company was sued by Los Angeles residents for one of its projects. A tunnel system the company built in Las Vegas is closed because of safety concerns. The company was fined more than $100,000 by the Nevada OSHA department for maintaining an unsafe workplace. Toxic debris falling from conveyor belts were among the worker complaints to OSHA. Bloomberg has also reported that workers at his Las Vegas tunnel had to wade through toxic sludge.
Davis Is Ideologically Committed To Libertarianism
- Davis served on the board of advisors of the Atlas Society, a group dedicated to Ayn Rand’s libertarian philosophy. “The group is dedicated to exploring the philosophy of Ayn Rand, known for equating government bureaucrats with ‘looters and moochers.’” He has appeared at Ayn Rand conferences to speak about the work he has done with Musk, and has even quoted Atlas Shrugged off the top of his head. He has a cameo in Atlas Shrugged II.
As Elon Musk’s DOGE continues to tear through agencies with little oversight or transparency, the Revolving Door Project is publishing profiles of reported DOGE employees: who they are, where they came from, and any conflicts of interest that might make their unfettered access to the federal government dangerous to the public. Read them all here.