Jason Crow criticizes Project 2025 at the Democratic Party Convention
In his speeches at the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Representative Jason Crow warned against Project 2025 and criticized Donald Trump.
WASHINGTON – Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign launched a new television and digital advertising campaign Wednesday warning voters about the conservative political concept “Project 2025.”
And the campaign hopes that a certain person will see it.
While the ads will air in seven crucial swing states, the Harris team is also paying to have them run specifically in the Palm Beach-Fort Pierce media market in Florida — so former President Donald Trump could stumble upon them while flipping through the channels at his Mar-a-Lago home.
“Donald Trump is back and he wants control, and he has a plan to get it. It’s called Project 2025,” a narrator says in the ad, while showing clips of the former president saying, “I would have every right to attack them” and “I will use that power very aggressively.”
The ad, which is not running in other parts of Florida, describes Project 2025 as a “922-page plan to make Donald Trump the most powerful president ever.”
Founded by the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation, Project 2025 includes controversial proposals to abolish the Department of Education, restrict access to abortion pills, restructure the FBI and reinstate an executive order issued by Trump that allows the president to replace officials with political appointees throughout the federal government.
More: Is Trump nervous about Florida? Democrats say new ad buys are proof of state’s competitiveness
The Trump campaign has aggressively tried to distance itself from Project 2025. Trump said he had “no idea who was behind it.” But the plan was created by more than 100 former Trump administration officials, and the head of Project 2025 was Paul Dans, who was chief of staff of the U.S. Office of Personnel Management in the Trump administration.
The Palm Beach, Florida, market is also the latest target of Trump’s campaign ads – a move that appears to have been made so the former president can watch. The Trump campaign booked $48,000 worth of ad spend, a small amount for political advertising, in the Mar-a-Lago market this week, according to AdImpact, which tracks paid media buys.
“Florida is deep red, Trump country, but we will not take any state for granted,” said Trump spokesman Brian Hughes. “We have strong campaign organizations across the country and are making investments everywhere.”
More: What is Project 2025? Trump claims to have “no idea” about the conservative plan.
The Harris campaign’s new ads focusing on Project 2025 are part of a $370 million paid media plan that the Harris campaign has reserved for the period between Labor Day and Election Day on November 5.
Trump’s home state of Florida is not one of the seven swing states with the strongest electoral battles – Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, Arizona, Nevada, Georgia and North Carolina. Nevertheless, Harris’ campaign team has invested specifically in the state. He was encouraged by a change to the November ballot that provides for abortion.
More: Donald Trump says he will attend the September 10 debate after expressing doubts
A USA TODAY/Suffolk University/WSVN-TV poll this month found Trump leading Harris among likely voters in Florida, 47% to 42%. President Joe Biden lost Florida to Trump by 3.3 percentage points in 2020. The last time a Democratic presidential candidate won Florida was Barack Obama in 2012.
Reach Joey Garrison on X, formerly Twitter, @joeygarrison.
