Project 2029 is a new policy brain trust that the Democrats are forming to help shape the party’s future and help them win back voters.
The presence of veteran party insiders, particularly Jake Sullivan, who was national security advisor to former president Joe Biden, is causing eyebrows to raise throughout the political spectrum, especially considering the universal consensus that Democrats need new ideas and perspectives.
Ex-director of global engagement for Obama’s administration Brett Bruen expressed his disappointment with Jake’s apparent lack of self-awareness when asked about the situation. “Having Jake involved, let alone leading this, will only lead to stupid, superficial changes.”
“These Democratic leaders need to take a long look in the mirror and understand they played a big part in bringing this situation about — and exit stage left.”
Project 2029, which takes its structural cues from the Heritage Foundation’s conservative Project 2025, convenes prominent Democratic veterans to chart a course for future policymaking. Following a decade of steadfast opposition to President Trump, the organization is now committed to assisting Democrats in defining the policies necessary to secure victory in the 2028 election.
The initiative, which was first reported by The New York Times, is spearheaded by longtime Democratic strategist Andrei Cherny and features a group of well-known figures, such as Sullivan, Biden’s domestic policy advisor Neera Tanden, New America CEO Anne-Marie Slaughter, economist Justin Wolfers of the University of Michigan, Third Way co-founder Jim Kessler, and Roosevelt Institute former president Felicia Wong.
However, Republicans and progressives have been especially critical of Sullivan’s participation.
When the United States withdrew from Afghanistan in a disorganized fashion in 2021, killing thirteen American military men, Sullivan was Biden’s chief counselor. When things didn’t work out during the evacuation, he allegedly volunteered to step down.
Additionally, he has come under fire for the Biden administration’s policies on Ukraine, which, according to one European official who spoke with AWN Digital, appeared to be designed to allow Ukraine to “lose slowly.” He has also failed to assist Israel and Hamas in reaching a sustainable truce.
“Why isn’t Jake Sullivan working at Chipotle?” joked Steven Moore, creator of the Ukraine Freedom Project, on a podcast in the year 2024.
“Jake in his position both as national security advisor and in Biden world is one of the last people on earth that should be involved in a reset for the Democratic Party,” Bruen remarked.
When AWN Digital reached out to Sullivan for comment, he chose not to respond.
The shocking victory of Zohran Momdani against former New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo in the city’s mayoral race has revived the question of whether national Democrats should begin to seriously consider progressivism.
“The individuals who steered the Democratic Party into a pitfall are now demanding control all over again,” remarked Joseph Geevarghese, head of the progressive organization Our Revolution. “Leaders like Zohran Mamdani are showing what’s possible when you speak directly to working-class pain and stand up to entrenched power.”
Some Democrats still stand by Sullivan’s position and think he can bring the party together, even though he’s been heavily criticized.
Former Democratic strategist and deputy assistant secretary of state Joel Rubin praised him, calling him “a historic organizer of the diverse lanes of Democratic foreign policy, and he’s done a great job with it.” With no obvious top contender for 2028, Rubin questioned the actual impact of Project 2029.
“The primary is going to be very competitive,” Rubin said. We don’t have a candidate-in-waiting as the Republicans did in Project 2025 with Trump. Accordingly, Project 2029 will be only one of several plans put out by a Democratic administration.
There are those who believe that Sullivan and others like him can unite progressives and establishment leaders more effectively than any left-wing leader.
He’s an old guard, but they aren’t quite ancient. “There are a lot of young people,” remarked a Democratic member. “You’d be hard-pressed to find people in the progressive lane pulling in establishment folks, whereas the establishment lane is working to pull in progressives.”
Another accusation leveled against Sullivan by Republicans is his part in spreading false claims about the 2016 election.
While serving as a senior advisor to Hillary Clinton, Sullivan bolstered the Slate report’s assertion that Trump Tower kept a hidden server that communicated with Alfa Bank in Russia.
With this, “this could be the most direct link yet between Donald Trump and Moscow,” Sullivan stated that time. “This secret hotline may be the key to unlocking the mystery of Trump’s ties to Russia.”
He was then accused by Republicans of deceiving the public and distributing unconfirmed material.
