First Democrats Hit Trump With Project 2025. Now They’re Moving On to House Republicans.

The conservative policy agenda’s emergence as an issue in House races is the latest turn in its extraordinary political journey this year.

An auditorium at the Heritage Foundation.
At least four House Democratic candidates are trying out a new line of attack on their Republican opponents by trying to tie them to Project 2025. Francis Chung/POLITICO/AP

Democrats are using Project 2025, the conservative policy agenda that has plagued former President Donald Trump’s campaign, to also target down-ballot Republicans as they look to flip the closely divided House in November.

The proposed governing plan’s emergence on the congressional map is another testament to its remarkable political transformation this year, evolving from a conservative think tank’s little-known policy agenda to a prominent issue on the campaign trail. Republicans up and down the ballot, including Trump, are now trying to minimize the political fallout.

Already, at least four House Democratic candidates have used paid media to elevate the issue in their battleground contests this month. In at least two cases, they released ads focused solely on the GOP candidates’ supposed support of Project 2025, using it to attack them as extremists bent on reducing abortion rights and harming the social safety net.