Democrats’ ‘Project 2029’ Looks A Whole Lot Like Their 2024

Following the Democratic Party’s losses in the 2024 election, some party members are borrowing from the Republican playbook by introducing an all-in-one package of Democratic policies called Project 2029.

The head architect of the project, Andrei Cherny, told The New York Times (NYT) that Vice President Kamala Harris lost her presidential bid because she attacked President Donald Trump’s ideas rather than promoting her own agenda. His plan bares a striking similarity to the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, a set of policies the left used to attack Trump during the 2024 election.

“The oldest truism in politics is you can’t beat something with nothing,” Cherny, a former Democratic speechwriter, told the Times.

Cherny is assembling a team of Democrats to write and release quarterly policy proposals over the next two years through Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, culminating in a book to guide candidates in 2028. However, the people reportedly chosen for the team’s board have a history of connections to President Joe Biden, Democratic Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. (RELATED: HOUSMAN: It’s Time For Trump To Dispose Of China’s Ticking Time Bomb)

Cherny told the NYT that the team he put together to draft the plans represented “the Avengers of public policy” and “the best thinkers from across the spectrum.” They intend to run public conferences to iron out their differences. The group will address topics such as national security, the economy and education policy.

Avengers….Assemble! https://t.co/1Ah2TmYqGS

— Andrei Cherny (@AndreiCherny) June 30, 2025

Neera Tanden is among those seated on the advisory board, according to the NYT. She currently heads the progressive think tank Center for American Progress and served Biden as a staff secretary and senior advisor. The ex-aide testified before the House Oversight Committee last week amid an investigation into Biden’s mental fitness.

Biden nominated her in 2021 to serve as head of the Office of Management and Budget but withdrew her nomination after backlash, including from Republican Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy. The former Biden aide deleted approximately 1,000 tweets within two weeks of being nominated, according to Wayback Machine archives.

Former Biden National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan also has a seat on the board, the NYT reported. He reportedly offered to resign after the disastrous U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, which resulted in the deaths of 13 service members.

Former New America Foundation (NAF) President Anne-Marie Slaughter is another board member, according to the outlet. Slaughter was the director of policy planning at the State Department under then-Secretary Hillary Clinton, according to her NAF biography. She is also a published author on topics including “global governance” and international affairs.

Jim Kessler, a founder at Third Way, also sits on the advisory board, the NYT reported. Kessler once served as legislative and policy director for Democratic Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York and worked with him on gun control, according to his biography on Third Way. The organization describes calls its activities “center left.”

Felicia Wong, former president of the Roosevelt Institute, is another member, according to the NYT. She served under the Biden-Harris administration as vice chair of the Treasury Advisory Committee on Racial Equity. “Any efforts to address inequality in the United States must account for the legacy of racial exclusion built into our economy,” she said in a 2022 Treasury Department release.

The Roosevelt Institute calls for economic rules “rooted in shared values of equity, inclusion, and sustainability.”

Economist Justin Wolfers is the final member of the board, the NYT reported.

Some Democrats expressed skepticism over the project, arguing that the group would not be able to establish a coherent policy agenda or that policy was not the issue facing the party, according to the outlet.

“Developing policies by checking every coalitional box is how we got in this mess in the first place,” Democratic author Adam Jensleson said, adding that people pushing policies must face the “interest-group Borg.”

“We didn’t lack policies,” Democratic pollster Celinda Lake told the outlet. “But we lacked a functioning narrative to communicate those policies.”

On a CNN panel Sunday, political strategist Maria Cardona pointed to socialist Democratic New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s tactics as an approach the party could employ, suggesting it was similar to President Donald Trump’s strategy.