Welcome to the Democratic Campaign Against Project 2025
WASHINGTON – Democrats have denounced it in hundreds of ads and billboards, printed it in oversized book form as a convention prop, and mentioned it in seemingly every speech and press statement.
Now, they will take their campaign against the conservative Project 2025 blueprint, written by allies of Republican Donald Trump, to the skies above college football stadiums in key swing states.
Democratic National Committee-sponsored banners pulled by small airplanes will fly Saturday over Michigan Stadium, where the defending national champion Wolverines have a marquee matchup against Texas, and at-home games for Penn State, Wisconsin, and Georgia.
Vice President Kamala Harris and her allies have spent months warning about Project 2025, betting that the initiative makes Trump seem especially extreme. More than 900 pages and produced by the conservative Heritage Foundation, the plan lays out how Trump in his second term might do everything from firing tens of thousands of federal workers to abolishing government departments to imposing new restrictions on abortion and diversity initiatives.
Trump has rejected a direct connection to Project 2025, though he’s also endorsed some of its key ideas.
Saturday’s gambit will put Democratic messaging over stadiums with a total capacity of 380,000-plus, with tens of thousands of fans more in the vicinity of each game.
“JD Vance ‘hearts’ Ohio State + Project 2025,” will read the message going over Michigan Stadium, suggesting Trump’s running mate loves the project as much as he famously does Michigan’s hated archrival.
In Wisconsin, which will host South Dakota, the message is “Jump Around! Beat Trump + Project 2025,” a nod to fans jumping with enough ferocity to shake Camp Randall Stadium when House of Pain’s “Jump Around” plays between the third and fourth quarters.
A large portion of Saturday’s game crowds, meanwhile, may support Trump. Many college football fans hail from rural, more Republican areas, well beyond the confines of reliably Democratic college towns.
“One of the really interesting things when political candidates try to leverage sports is that they’re putting themselves at risk,” said Amy Bass, who is a professor of sport studies at Manhattanville University in Purchase, New York.
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