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By Jasmine Laws
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A Democratic policy group called Project 2029 is attracting criticism on social media over its choice of name, which echoes Project 2025, the policy blueprint designed for the Republican Party's victorious 2024 election campaign.
The group recently announced its leader Chad Maisel and said it has already enlisted 200 people for its working groups, according to the news outlet Axios, although these participants will reportedly remain secret unless they write a proposal.
Influential critics on social media platform X called on the group to choose a different name, for multiple reasons, including one who said: "Taking on someone else’s branding means you’ll always be the second thought."
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Newsweek has contacted Maisel via email for comment.
Why It Matters
Project 2029 is not the only Democratic group aimed at winning the White House in the 2028 Presidential Election, however it appears to be the only one apparently imitating the Republicans' route to power.
Project 2025, launched by conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, has been linked to President Donald Trump, and a number of its policies have since been implemented during his second term.
But the 900-page blueprint, aiming to reshape and reorganize the federal government, was widely unpopular when released, and many Republican figures including Trump initially distanced themselves from it. So it is hardly surprising the decision by Democrats to create their own version of the plan—particularly the name—has sparked debate online.
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What To Know
Adam Carlson, a founding partner of Zenith Polls, who has more than 49,000 followers on X, shared the update about the group and wrote on the platform: "Can we please not call it that."
Jesse Arm, the vice president of external affairs at the Manhattan Institute, also wrote: "One piece of free counsel to Democrats: if you’re going to insist on doing this anyway, at least consider picking a different name."
Stefan Smith, the head of digital engagement at the American Civil Liberties Union, a nonprofit civil rights union organization, wrote: "Taking on someone else’s branding means you’ll always be the second thought. Bad communications impulse."
Another X user wrote: "Stop naming things the way Trump names things. You’re legitimizing and normalizing all of these things that aren’t acceptable or normal."
Maisel, who worked at the Biden White House's Domestic Policy Council and for New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, told Axios: "There's a recognition from the last decade-plus that the same old playbook isn't working. Project 2029 will put forward an agenda that is bigger and bolder than what people have been offered before."
Per the outlet, the group also intends to follow the process of Project 2025 by releasing many policy proposals that will be compiled into a blueprint for the next potential Democratic president.
Some X users also had criticisms of the choice of leader for the group, one user writing: "The people involved with the plan for Democrats to get the country out of the Trump Era should not be the same people responsible for getting us into the Trump Era."
Another X user wrote: "do we really want people from the Biden/Booker world writing policy for the next administration if there is one?"
What People Are Saying
Project 2029 released the statement: "Opposing the destructive policies of the Trump Administration is important—but it's not enough. America needs an alternative: new ideas at a time of dramatic change. Big ideas that meet the scale of profound challenges. Bold ideas in a moment crying out for so much more than just tinkers. That's the mission of Project 2029."
What Happens Next
According to Axios, the group plans to announce an advisory committee in the coming weeks.
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