WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats have denounced it in hundreds of ads and billboards, printed it in oversized book form as a prop for the convention and mentioned it in seemingly every speech and press statement.
Now they will take their election campaign against the conservative “Project 2025” draft, written by allies of Republican Donald Trump, to the skies above the college football stadiums of the most essential swing states.
Democratic National Committee banners pulled by miniature planes will fly over Michigan Stadium on Saturday, where the defending national champion Wolverines will play a top-flight game against Texas as well as home games for Penn State, Wisconsin and Georgia.
Vice President Kamala Harris and her allies have been warning about Project 2025 for months, betting it will make Trump appear particularly extreme. The 900-plus page plan, published by the conservative Heritage Foundation, lays out how Trump could do everything from layoffs of tens of thousands of federal workers to eliminating departments to recent restrictions on abortion and diversity initiatives in his second term.
Trump denies any direct connection to Project 2025, but also supports some of its core ideas.
With Saturday’s move, Democrats hope to spread their messages in stadiums that have a combined capacity of more than 380,000 spectators, with tens of thousands more fans near each game.
“JD Vance ‘loves’ Ohio State + Project 2025,” will be the message above Michigan Stadium, suggesting that Trump’s running mate loves the project as much as Michigan’s notoriously hated archrival.
In Wisconsin, host nation for South Dakota, the message is “Jump Around! Beat Trump + Project 2025,” a reference to the fans who jump so wildly that Camp Randall Stadium shakes when House of Pain’s “Jump Around” plays between the third and fourth quarters.
Georgia, hosting Tennessee Tech, and Penn State in the Bowling Green clash will receive more general messages urging fans to “Beat Trump and Fire Project 2025.”
The banners will begin flying about four hours before kickoff and could continue to fly during the game, depending on the decision of the flight attendants on site, said Abhi Rahman, deputy communications director for the DNC.
The airstrike comes on the heels of Harris’ election campaign, and her party brings up Project 2025 several times a day, often unsolicited.
The DNC marked Labor Day by arguing that Project 2025 would undermine overtime rules and “hard-won” workers’ rights. It also funded online ads about the initiative that appeared to users searching for “back to school.” Democrats have also referenced Project 2025 in seemingly inappropriate places, from pointing out that Vance was booed at a recent firefighters convention to criticizing Trump for attacking his perceived political enemies in online posts.
“We want people to know exactly what Project 2025 is and what its ties to Trump are,” Rahman said. “We’re always trying to find creative ways to get the message out.”
Democratic strategist Brad Bannon warned that Harris’ focus on Project 2025 “should not overshadow her positive message about the changes she seeks.”
“She cannot afford to exaggerate,” he said, “if it prevents her from developing her own personal profile.”
A huge portion of Saturday’s spectators are likely to support Trump. Many college football fans come from rural, Republican-leaning areas, far outside the boundaries of Democratic college towns.
“One of the really interesting things about political candidates trying to use sports as their advantage is that they put themselves at risk,” says Amy Bass, a professor of exercise science at Manhattanville University in Purchase, New York.
She pointed out that Trump was surprised to be booed when he attended Game 5 of the 2019 World Series – even though the former president also made largely successful visits to tailgate parties ahead of the Iowa-Iowa State football game in 2023 and when South Carolina hosted Clemson after last Thanksgiving.
Sports crowds “tend to be loud, and on top of that, there’s pregame alcohol, partying in the street and all kinds of things going on, and that crowd is not targeted,” Bass said.
Rahman, however, dismissed such concerns.
“You can talk about a banner all you want,” he said. “But the message is definitely there. And it’s there for a reason.”
