Democrats eager to retake the White House have unveiled the outlines of four policy proposals from a planned playbook modeled after the conservative blueprint known as 'Project 2025' that set the stage for much of President Donald Trump's second term.
A Thursday report by anti-Trump media outlet The Bulwark previewed the work of the Democratic policy group Project 2029, which is run by Chad Maisel, who previously served on President Joe Biden's White House Domestic Policy Counsel.
'It's very clear for many people what Democrats are against,' Maisel told The Bulwark. 'What people are not clear on is what we are for and what we would do if and when we have our next governing moment. We see Project 2029 as answering that question of: What would we do? What would we fight for? How would we solve problems?'
Key Proposals
The group's first proposals include having the next Democratic president break up the 'century-old monopoly model' of the electric power industry, which it says 'leaves 150 million households with no choice in who provides their power and tens of billions of dollars in potential savings locked behind outdated laws.'
Project 2029 also wants to see families get financial support for child care, federal protection of children from social media and artificial intelligence, and a crackdown on what it calls the 'annoyance economy' of corporate 'spam calls, useless chatbots, impossible cancellations (and) endless paperwork.'
'The hassle isn't a bug; it's the business model,' according to Project 2029, which estimates the cost to American households at more than $100 billion a year.
Future Plans
Project 2029 plans to release dozens of other domestic and foreign policy proposals over the next year, after which they'll be compiled into a book, according to The Bulwark. Maisel said the group would be successful if Democratic presidential contenders adopted its proposals and they helped 'inform the debate' leading to the 2028 election.
'We think we need to move towards big, bold ideas that are exciting to people,' he said. 'And we also think we need to put forward ideas that people understand.'
Thursday's preview came about two months after Project 2029 initially planned to start releasing policy ideas, according to a February report by Axios about Maisel's hiring as executive director.
Background on Project 2025
Project 2029 took its name from the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank's Project 2025, which included the 2023 publication of a 920-page book titled Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise. Its 30 chapters offered detailed recommendations for 'taking the reins of government' and setting priorities for all 15 Cabinet departments, as well as various agencies and commissions.
Controversy generated by some proposals led Trump to disavow Project 2025 during his 2024 campaign, calling some of its ideas 'absolutely ridiculous and abysmal' and claiming he had 'no idea who is behind it.' Trump later picked some of the book's authors for positions in his administration, including budget director Russell Vought, who wrote the chapter on the Executive Office of the President, which includes the Office of Management and Budget, and Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, who wrote the chapter on the FCC.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, are listed among the scores of contributors to the book's contents. Last year, CNN reported that 36 of Trump's 53 executive orders and official actions during the first week of his second term aligned with Project 2025's proposals. The crowd-sourced Project 2025 Tracker website also says Trump has implemented 53 percent of Project 2025's 320 objectives.
