In the wake of stinging defeats in the 2024 election, Democratic strategists are attempting to regroup by launching a sweeping policy initiative dubbed Project 2029, an effort some observers say borrows heavily from the structure—and ambitions—of the conservative Project 2025.
The project is led by Andrei Cherny, a former Democratic speechwriter and head of Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, who is assembling what he describes as “the Avengers of public policy.” According to The New York Times, Cherny's initiative will issue quarterly policy proposals leading up to the 2028 election cycle. These proposals will culminate in a comprehensive policy book intended to serve as a blueprint for future Democratic candidates.
Avengers….Assemble! https://t.co/1Ah2TmYqGS
— Andrei Cherny (@AndreiCherny) June 30, 2025
Cherny bluntly assessed the party’s 2024 failure as a messaging and strategy breakdown. “You can’t beat something with nothing,” he told the Times, arguing that Vice President Kamala Harris’s unsuccessful campaign relied too heavily on attacking Donald Trump, rather than advancing her own vision.
The Project 2029 board, however, is already raising eyebrows. Its members include figures closely tied to past Democratic administrations, many of whom carry political baggage. Among them:
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Neera Tanden, head of the Center for American Progress and former Biden advisor, who faced intense bipartisan backlash during her 2021 nomination to lead the Office of Management and Budget. Her nomination was ultimately withdrawn.
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Jake Sullivan, former National Security Advisor under President Biden, who came under fire following the U.S. military’s chaotic withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.
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Anne-Marie Slaughter, a Clinton-era State Department official and vocal advocate of global governance strategies.
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Jim Kessler, co-founder of the center-left think tank Third Way and a longtime aide to Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer.
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Felicia Wong, previously with the Roosevelt Institute and vice chair of the Treasury Advisory Committee on Racial Equity under Biden.
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Justin Wolfers, economist and frequent public commentator.
While the initiative aims to tackle key policy areas—national security, economic development, and education—it has already drawn internal criticism. Skeptics within the party argue that the effort may devolve into another exercise in factional appeasement.
“Developing policies by checking every coalitional box is how we got in this mess,” Democratic strategist Adam Jentleson warned, suggesting the project might fall prey to interest-group politics rather than delivering a unified agenda.
Democratic pollster Celinda Lake offered a different diagnosis: the problem isn’t policy—it’s storytelling. “We didn’t lack policies,” she said. “But we lacked a functioning narrative to communicate those policies.”
That sentiment was echoed during a CNN panel on Sunday, where political strategist Maria Cardona pointed to tactics employed by far-left New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani as a possible model—ironically, for mirroring the populist appeal of Donald Trump.