Democrats tie 'Project 2025' and back-to-school together in online ads and organzing push

As students return to campus this fall, Democrats are working to engage both students and parents online and in person — and to keep “Project 2025” at the forefront of the campaign, with a new digital ad campaign that will target battleground voters using common back-to-school search terms.

Searches for phrases including “back-to-school,” “classroom supplies,” and “school preparation” will serve users advertisements directing them to a newly created Democratic National Committee site highlighting provisions of Project 2025 concerning public education, including a call to shutter the Department of Education.

The 925-page policy plan, titled “Mandate for Leadership,” refers to the Department of Education as a “one-stop shop for the woke education cartel.” Project 2025, a plan for a second Donald Trump term led by the Heritage Foundation, has become a major focal point of the Democratic campaign against Trump, leading the former president to repeatedly disavow the effort, though he has close ties to many of the people involved and praised the group’s plans at a 2022 dinner.

“This department is an example of federal intrusion into a traditionally state and local realm. For the sake of American children, Congress should shutter it and return control of education to the states,” the document reads.

“Public education is a cornerstone of America’s democracy, but Trump and Vance threaten to take us backwards with a Project 2025 agenda that is as extreme as it is unpopular,” said DNC chair Jaime Harrison.

The Project 2025 book also prescribes curbing taxpayer-funded education programs, including Head Start, and decreasing the amount of federal funds allocated towards assisting students in low-income neighborhoods.

The new ad