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Andrea Austria / Media Matters

JD Vance is linked to numerous Project 2025 partner organizations

Vance has appeared at events and on several right-wing podcasts associated with Project 2025 partner organizations, praising their leaders and promoting their work

Written by Justin Horowitz

Research contributions from Jack Wheatley

Published

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance, the first-term Ohio senator who recently became former President Donald Trump’s newest running mate, has numerous links to The Heritage Foundation and other partner organizations in Project 2025, a far-right initiative aimed at supplying policy and personnel for the next GOP administration.

The Heritage Foundation leads Project 2025, which includes over 100 partner organizations. The policy and staffing proposals recommended in its nearly 900-page policy book — titled Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise — pose a significant threat to democracy and present a draconian vision for America.

Project 2025’s proposals call for a potential Trump-Vance administration to target reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, civil rights, immigration protections, and efforts to fight climate change, among other recommendations. The platforms of individual Project 2025 partners often advocate for even more extreme measures, and Heritage President Kevin Roberts recently stated, “We are in the process of the second American Revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”

Trump’s campaign has recently sought to distance itself from Heritage and Project 2025 as the initiative becomes a toxic election issue and polling indicates its extremism is unpopular with voters. But during an appearance on Newmax earlier this month, Vance said that Project 2025 has “some good ideas.”

Vance’s connections to The Heritage Foundation and Roberts are well-documented: He has spoken at Heritage multiple times, he wrote the foreword to Roberts’ forthcoming book, and in 2017 he wrote the introduction to Heritage’s yearly “culture and opportunity” report. Additionally, Vance praised Roberts earlier this year as “somebody I rely on a lot who has very good advice, very good political instincts.”

Vance has been featured on several right-wing podcasts, panels, and events associated with Project 2025 partner organizations, and he has promoted their research and praised the groups’ leaders in interviews and other appearances.

Select a Project 2025 partner

  • American Accountability Foundation

    • The American Accountability Foundation is a right-wing nonprofit aiming to “torpedo top Biden administration nominees.” According to its website, the group “deploys aggressive research and investigations to advance conservative messaging, rapid response, and Congressional investigations.” Politico reported that the organization’s tax-exempt status was investigated by the IRS for failing to disclose lobbying work after it “spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to promote its research attacking President Joe Biden’s nominees, from a Supreme Court justice to agency leaders, even publicly cheering its own success when a campaign culminated in a nominee’s withdrawal.” [American Accountability Foundation, accessed 7/30/24; Politico, 3/22/24]

    • Vance sent a letter to the Internal Revenue Service arguing against the “politically motivated” audit of the American Accountability Foundation and defended the organization’s nonprofit status. [Vance.Senate.gov, 11/16/23]

  • American Compass

    • Founded by right-wing commentator Oren Cass, American Compass is a think tank created to support a “conservative labor movement” that seeks to “reform” labor unions. According to Politico, “the group argues that Republicans should focus more on policies that help workers and domestic industry and be more skeptical of globalization and financialization.” [Influence Watch, accessed 7/30/24; Politico, 7/25/24]

    • Politico: Vance is an “an ally whose own staff has deep ties” to American Compass. During an American Compass event, Vance praised the organization, saying, “If we are to succeed in building a new economic agenda that actually serves the interests of working people in this country, it will be in large part thanks to the hard work and rigorous policy analysis they continue to produce.” [Politico, 7/25/24]

    • During an appearance at an American Compass event titled “Rebuilding American Capitalism,” Vance said, “I’m a huge fan of what you’re doing. I’m glad to be here.” [YouTube, 6/23/23]

  • The American Conservative

    • The American Conservative is a right-wing magazine co-founded by Pat Buchanan and published by the American Ideas Institute. It releases biweekly issues which grew in popularity with the Trump administration, described by its executive director as Trump’s “in-house, in-flight magazine.” [The American Conservative, accessed 7/8/24; Vanity Fair, 4/27/20]

    • At the group’s 2019 annual gala, Vance said, “Thanks to The American Conservative, a publication that I am very much indebted to.” Vance said his book Hillbilly Elegy “would simply have not reached the audience it had without the work and without the support of … The American Conservative.” [YouTube, 5/28/19]

    • In May, Vance was the keynote speaker at an event hosted by The American Conservative and The Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. [YouTube, 5/28/24]

  • American Moment

    • American Moment is a right-wing youth organization that trains members to implement conservative policy in a future Republican administration. [Axios, 7/22/22; American Moment, accessed 7/30/24]

    • Vance is an emeritus member of the American Moment advisory board. [American Moment, accessed 7/26/24]

    • Vance appeared on American Moment’s podcast Moment of Truth, where the group’s president praised Vance as being a “historic part of our origin story.” American Moment President Saurabh Sharma said, “We’re extremely grateful to be able to tape this episode with someone who is as much a historic part of our origin story as we are. It was an article that Sen. Vance wrote in April of 2020 that gave us the idea for American Moment. He was one of our biggest advocates and supporters in the days when no one smart should have been an advocate or supporter for us. But he saw something and was extremely generous with his time." [YouTube, 4/3/23]

    • Vance appeared on a different episode of American Moment’s podcast where he attacked journalists for being “miserable and unhappy” because their biological clocks have run out. “One of the weird lies the elites have been told is that it's very easy to start a family when you're 45,” Vance told Sharma and his co-host, American Moment’s Nick Solheim. “God says otherwise.” [Media Matters, 7/26/24]

  • Claremont Institute

    • The Claremont Institute is a right-wing think tank that has promoted anti-democracy tactics and authoritarianism. Trump “coup memo” author John Eastman is a senior fellow at Claremont, and the group has platformed white nationalists and promoted the racist “great replacement” conspiracy theory. [The New Republic, 8/10/23; The Daily Beast, 6/16/22]

    • In December 2023, Vance spoke at a Claremont Institute event and celebrated police unions, which he claimed “stand on the line between civilization and barbarians.” In his speech, Vance claimed the Justice Department is controlled by the “deep state” and suggested that “maybe we should be appointing people to the Department of Justice who actually take a side in the culture war." [YouTube, 12/23/23] 

    • Vance also spoke at a Claremont Institute event in May 2021 and suggested that Jeff Bezos is “one of the largest funders of the Black Lives Matter movement in this country” so that Amazon can profit “when small businesses on main street are destroyed.” Vance told Claremont’s Center for the American Way of Life: “There is a direct connection between woke capital and the plunder that’s happening in our society today. The people who are invested in destroying America via our corporate class also are getting rich from it.” [YouTube, 5/18/21]

  • Concerned Women for America

    • Concerned Women for America is a right-wing Christian advocacy group that opposes feminism, LGBTQ rights, and abortion. [Concerned Women for America, accessed 7/30/24]

    • Vance spoke at the Concerned Women for America’s Legislative Action Committee summit in 2023. The event, which also featured Trump and numerous other GOP politicians, was sponsored by Liberty University, another Project 2025 partner. [Concerned Women for America, accessed 7/25/24; Heritage Foundation, 2/20/24]

  • Forge Leadership Network

    • Forge Leadership Network is a right-wing youth networking and training organization focused on “equipping the next generation of conservative leaders in the public square.” [Forge Leadership Network, accessed 7/30/24]

    • Forge Leadership Network President Adam Josefczyk introduced Vance at The Heritage Foundation’s 50th Anniversary Leadership Summit. Josefczyk told a story about sitting with Vance at his house “on the eve of his Senate primary” and praised the junior Ohio senator, saying his “love of our state” and “love of our country” are “evident in everything that Sen. Vance does.” [YouTube, 7/15/24]

    • In 2022, Vance addressed Forge Leadership Network’s Mentorship Academy. [Instagram, accessed 7/26/24]

  • The Heritage Foundation

    • The Heritage Foundation is a right-wing, anti-LGBTQ think tank responsible for creating Project 2025 and assisting with Trump’s 2016 presidential transition into office. Heritage has bragged that “64 percent of the policy recommendations from the think tank’s ‘Mandate for Leadership’ were embraced by the Trump administration in its first year.” [GLAAD, 4/21/23; Politico, 11/22/16; The Heritage Foundation, 2/28/18]

    • When Vance was announced as Trump's latest vice presidential pick, Heritage president Kevin Roberts bragged about his “broad smile,” Heritage is “good friends” with Vance, and said that “privately we were really rooting for” Vance to be selected by Trump. [Twitter/X, 7/15/24]

    • Vance wrote the foreword to Roberts’ forthcoming book. The proceeds from the book will partially benefit Heritage. [Media Matters, 7/24/24]

    • In January, Vance praised Roberts as “somebody I rely on a lot who has very good advice, very good political instincts.” [Media Matters, 7/26/24]

    • In October 2023, Roberts and Vance wrote a joint opinion piece in The Hill, titled “Don’t hold up Israel aid to further Ukraine War funding.” Vance also reposted the op-ed as a press release on his official Senate webpage. [The Hill, 10/19/23; Vance.Senate.gov, 10/19/23]

    • During a panel with the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, Roberts introduced Vance as “one of the statesmen of our age.” [Media Matters, 7/26/24]

    • In 2017, Vance wrote the introduction to The Heritage Foundation’s yearly report Index of Culture and Opportunity. [The Heritage Foundation, 7/20/17]

    • Vance has spoken at the Heritage Foundation multiple times. [Facebook, 7/22/17; YouTube, 4/27/23]

  • Intercollegiate Studies Institute

    • The Intercollegiate Studies Institute is a right-wing training organization that works to mentor “young men and women to become eloquent defenders of the principles of liberty.” [Intercollegiate Studies Institute, accessed 7/30/24]

    • In 2021, Vance spoke at an Intercollegiate Studies Institute event where he argued: “Let’s give votes to all children in this country, but let’s give control over those votes to the parents of those children.” “When you go to the polls in this country as a parent, you should have more power,” Vance said. “You should have more of an ability to speak your voice in our democratic republic than people who don’t have kids. Let’s face the consequences and the reality. If you don’t have as much of an investment in the future of this country, maybe you shouldn’t get nearly the same voice.” [The Washington Post, 7/25/24; YouTube, 9/7/21]

    • Vance appeared in a Twitter Space with Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts, Intercollegiate Studies Institute President John Burtka, and research director of Project 2025 partner Center for Renewing America’s Micah Meadowcroft. Burtka is a former editor at another Project 2025 partner organization, The American Conservative. [The American Conservative, accessed 7/26/24; YouTube, 5/9/24; Media Matters, 7/26/24]

    • Vance also appeared on an Intercollegiate Studies Institute panel with Roberts in June 2023. [YouTube, 6/8/23]

  • National Association of Scholars

    • The National Association of Scholars is a right-wing nonprofit organization “that seeks to reform higher education” and attack “the diversity bureaucracy.” [National Association of Scholars, accessed 7/30/24, accessed 7/30/24]

    • In a letter to the president of Ohio State University complaining about “diversity, equity, and inclusion” in the school’s hiring practices, Vance cited research from National Association of Scholars’ John Sailer. Vance wrote, “It seems that the rot of ‘DEI’—a modern gloss on racism, antisemitism, and other ancient prejudices—is pervasive at Ohio State.” Attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives have played a major role in Project 2025’s blueprint and messaging. [Vance.Senate.gov, 12/8/23; CBS News, 7/25/24; NPR, 7/18/24]

    • The National Association of Scholars endorsed Vance’s proposed College Admissions Accountability Act calling “for an end to these unjust practices” of affirmative action at American universities. The legislation, which would require “universities to respect applicants’ constitutional rights and comply with the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard,” is also endorsed by the Center for the American Way of Life at the Claremont Institute, another Project 2025 partner, and Citizens for Renewing America. [Vance.Senate.gov, 12/5/23; Heritage Foundation, 2/20/24; Vox, 6/29/23]

  • Teneo Network

    • The Teneo Network is a right-wing nonprofit working to develop “‘networks of conservatives that can roll back liberal influence in Wall Street and Silicon Valley” and “influence all aspects of American politics and culture.” [ProPublica, 3/9/23]

    • Vance spoke at a private Teneo Network event in September 2021 where he reportedly praised 9/11 conspiracy theorist Alex Jones as a truth-teller, attacked transgender people for “fundamentally denying basic reality,” and said, “I believe the devil is real and that he works terrible things in our society.” [ProPublica, 7/16/24; Southern Poverty Law Center, accessed 7/26/24]

  • Turning Point USA

    • Co-founded by right-wing media personality Charlie Kirk, Turning Point USA trains and organizes young conservatives. The organization has a long history of ties to white nationalists, racists, and conspiracy theorists. [Media Matters, 5/10/24]

    • Vance has appeared multiple times on Turning Point USA president and founder Charlie Kirk’s podcast. [Salem Media, The Charlie Kirk Show, 5/16/22, 7/24/24, 5/29/24, 2/12/24, 3/18/24, 6/14/23, 9/14/23, 8/17/22, 9/14/21, 7/14/22, 4/15/21, 5/16/22]

    • Vance has spoken at multiple events for Turning Point USA’s sister organization, Turning Point Action. [YouTube, 7/16/23, 6/16/24]