JD Vance had ties to the Heritage Foundation, the conservative organization behind Project 2025.
JD Vance had ties to the Teneo Network, a Project 2025 advisory board member.
The Heritage Foundation Started Project 2025. According to CNN, “Behind Project 2025 is the Heritage Foundation, a 51-year-old conservative organization that aligned itself with Trump not long after his 2016 victory. Heritage is led by Kevin Roberts, a Trump ally whom the former president praised as ‘doing an unbelievable job’ on a February night when they shared the same stage. Heritage conceived Project 2025 to begin planning so a Republican president could hit the ground running after the election. One of its priorities is creating a roadmap for the first 180 days of the new administration to quickly reorient every federal agency around its conservative vision. Described on its website as ‘a movement-wide effort guided by the conservative cause to address and reform the failings of big government and an undemocratic administrative state,’ Project 2025 also aims to recruit and train thousands of people loyal to the conservative movement to fill federal government positions.” [CNN, 7/11/24]
2023: Vance Gave A Speech At The Heritage Foundation Where He Said They Would “Play A Major Role” In A Future Administration. According to Fortune, At a 2023 speech delivered at the organization’s 50th anniversary summit, Vance said the Heritage Foundation would ‘play a major role in helping us figure out how to govern, at the White House, at the Senate, at the House and all across our great country,’ and thanked the group for ‘50 years of incredible work on conservative policy.’” [Fortune, 7/16/24]
2024: Vance Wrote The Foreword To “Dawn’s Early Light,” A Book Written By The President Of The Heritage Foundation. According to Axios, “Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) wrote the foreword of an upcoming book from the architect of Project 2025, a right-wing blueprint for the next Republican administration. In publishing materials for Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts’ upcoming book, ‘Dawn's Early Light: Taking Back Washington to Save America,’ Vance said Roberts is presenting a ‘new future for conservatism.’ Vance also uses incendiary imagery while praising the book, writing, ‘We are now all realizing that it's time to circle the wagons and load the muskets. In the fights that lay ahead, these ideas are an essential weapon.’ The Heritage Foundation and Project 2025 are referenced in the first sentence of the book's description, which also claims ‘America is on the brink of destruction.’” [Axios, 7/25/24]
Vance Praised Roberts’ Book. According to Vox, “But Vance is a big fan. ‘I was thrilled to write the foreword for this incredible book, which contains a bold new vision for the future of conservatism in America,’ he tweeted in June.” [Vox, 7/25/24]
Vance Praised The Heritage Foundation. According to the Associated Press, “‘Never before has a figure with Roberts’s depth and stature within the American Right tried to articulate a genuinely new future for conservatism,’ Vance writes in his foreword. ‘The Heritage Foundation isn’t some random outpost on Capitol Hill; it is and has been the most influential engine of ideas for Republicans from Ronald Reagan to Donald Trump.’” [Associated Press, 7/30/24]
Vance’s Praise Of Roberts’ Book Tied Trump’s Campaign Closer To Project 2025. According to the Associated Press, “Ohio Sen. JD Vance, Donald Trump’s running mate, praised the vision of Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts in the foreword of a forthcoming book that could conflict with the Trump campaign’s effort to distance itself from Heritage’s Project 2025 transition effort. […] Vance’s words, which echo Roberts’ frequent calls to tear down U.S. institutions entirely to start anew, show the overlap between Trump’s closest allies and the people fueling Project 2025.” [Associated Press, 7/30/24]
In The Acknowledgments Section Of His Book, Roberts Thanked And Praised Vance. According to The Intercept, “Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts’s book, titled ‘Dawn’s Early Light: Taking Back Washington to Save America,’ sparked a media frenzy last week because it features a foreword written by J.D. Vance. As interest in the book rose following Trump’s pick of Vance as his vice president, a digital version of the text vanished from a website where publishers share advance copies with book reviewers. The Intercept has reviewed a proof of the book’s acknowledgments page. In it, Roberts thanks Heritage Foundation colleagues, including Roger Severino, who wrote a Project 2025 chapter urging further abortion restrictions, shouts out prominent conservative media personalities, and praises Vance by name. ‘And to Sen. J.D. Vance, thanks for inspiring me and millions of Americans with your story, and now with your leadership,’ Roberts writes. ‘I’m so grateful that you wrote the foreword.’” [The Intercept, 7/30/24]
2017: Vance Wrote The Introduction To The Heritage Foundation’s “Index Of Culture And Opportunity” Report. According to Advocate, In a 2017 introduction for The Heritage Foundation’s Index of Culture and Opportunity, Vance emphasized the importance of intertwining culture and opportunity in American society. He argued that economic decline and what he considers cultural decay are interconnected, suggesting that the current state of American society requires both economic and cultural reforms.” [Advocate, 7/16/24]
Teneo Was On Project 2025’s Advisory Board. According to the Heritage Foundation, “Here are all of the conservative organizations involved with Project 2025: […] Teneo.” [Newsweek, 4/11/24]
ProPublica: Vance’s Addition To The Republican Ticket Bolstered Ties Between The Trump Campaign And Project 2025 Through Vance’s Connection To The Teneo Network. According to ProPublica, “According to tax records, the Teneo Network’s chairman is Leonard Leo, the legal activist who built a pipeline of lawyers who interpret the Constitution based on the ‘original intent’ of the framers or the meaning of the words in the text when they were written. […] Adding Vance to the ticket bolsters the connections between Leo’s network and the Trump 2024 campaign. It also strengthens ties between Trump’s reelection bid and the Project 2025 blueprint, which outlines plans for a second Trump administration, including firing thousands of career civil servants, shuttering the Department of Education and replacing ambitious goals to combat climate change with ramped-up fossil fuel production.” [ProPublica, 7/16/24]
September 2021: Vance Joined The Teneo Network And Gave A Private Speech. According to ProPublica, “Vance made these remarks at a September 2021 gathering of the Teneo Network, an invitation-only group of young conservatives that counts elected officials, pro athletes, financial executives and media figures among its members. Vance joined Teneo six years ago. ProPublica and Documented obtained a video recording of his 30-minute speech and question-and-answer session, which has not been previously reported.” [ProPublica, 7/16/24]
Vance Praised Alex Jones As A Truth Teller. According to ProPublica, “Sen. J.D. Vance, whom Donald Trump named as his vice presidential running mate Monday, told a group of influential young conservatives in a closed-door speech in 2021 that they should stand up for ‘nonconventional people’ who speak truth, such as Infowars founder Alex Jones. ‘If you listen to Rachel Maddow every night, the basic worldview that you have is that MAGA grandmas who have family dinners on Sunday and bake apple pies for their family are about to start a violent insurrection against this country,’ Vance said. ‘But if you listen to Alex Jones every day, you would believe that a transnational financial elite controls things in our country, that they hate our society, and oh, by the way, a lot of them are probably sex perverts too.’ Vance went on, ‘Sorry, ladies and gentlemen, that’s actually a hell of a lot more true than Rachel Maddow’s view of society.’” [ProPublica, 7/16/24]