J.D. Vance wrote the foreword to the book of Project 2025 architect Kevin Roberts — and proceeds will benefit his organization

Written by Madeline Peltz

Published

Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, recently named as Donald Trump’s running mate, wrote the foreword to Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts’ forthcoming book, Dawn’s Early Light: Taking Back Washington to Save America, the proceeds for which will partly benefit Heritage.

The Heritage Foundation is leading Project 2025, a far-right staffing and policy initiative backed by more than 100 conservative groups that seeks to remake the federal government into a vehicle for Trumpism and would severely inhibit protections around reproductive rights, LGBTQ and civil rights, and immigration, as well as climate change efforts.

Vance’s foreward for Dawn’s Early Light, set to be released in September, will also financially benefit the Heritage Foundation directly, according to the Publishers Marketplace deal report that Roberts posted on X (formerly Twitter) in March 2023. The report states that the book sold “in a six-figure deal, with proceeds benefiting Heritage Foundation and aligned non-profits.”

The Trump campaign has attempted to distance itself from Project 2025, despite numerous well-documented ties. 

According to CNN, there are “nearly 240 people with ties to both Project 2025 and to Trump.” Unearthed videos published by Media Matters show Trump gushing over Roberts as “so incredible” and bragging that his administration “implemented 64 percent” of Heritage’s recommendations, an effort that the think tank itself has also highlighted.

Vance has his own ties to Project 2025 and Heritage. Reuters reporter Gram Slattery noted that “Vance is very close to Heritage,” and Politico described Project 2025 author Russ Vought as a “close ally” of his. On Newsmax, Vance told host Rob Schmitt that “there are some good ideas” in Project 2025, and he has previously praised Heritage for its “incredible” policy work.

When Vance was announced as Trump’s running mate, Roberts said, “Privately, we were really rooting for him,” noting that  he reacted to the news with a “broad smile.”