Throughout this election cycle, critics of Project 2025 — a policy blueprint for the next conservative president developed by the Heritage Foundation — have linked it to former President Donald Trump. Trump denies any involvement with Project 2025, although much of it was written by former and current Trump staffers.
Recently, ads have been running on Facebook for something called Progress 2028. It appears as though it’s Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ version of Project 2025.
The ads link to Progress2028.com. The website highlights controversial policy plans that, in some cases, run counter to Harris’ official agenda. For instance, Progress 2028 claims that Harris is committed to banning fracking, something Harris once supported but no longer does.
Viral posts across social media sites have claimed this website isn’t connected to Harris’ official campaign, and is funded by right-wing figures such as Elon Musk. VERIFY reader Cindy emailed us to ask who’s behind Progress 2028.
THE QUESTION
Is Progress 2028 an initiative created by Kamala Harris or her allies?
THE SOURCES
THE ANSWER
No, Progress 2028 is not an initiative created by Harris or her allies.
WHAT WE FOUND
Progress 2028, which purports to outline a “truly inclusive agenda” for “progressive wins” at every level of government, was created by a Republican PAC. Neither Harris nor her allies were involved in its creation, according to state filings.
Business records reveal that Progress 2028 is a project of the Building America’s Future PAC, which has a history of supporting Republican causes and opposing Democratic candidates and policies.
A search for Progress 2028 on the Virginia State Corporation Commission’s database reveals that it’s registered under the ID number 11061102. Building America’s Future is the legal name of the organization tied to the ID number, while Progress 2028 is one of the fictitious names it uses. Fictitious names are names that a person or business uses instead of their legal name, according to the Virginia State Corporation Commission.
The most recent Virginia State Corporation Commission filing for Building America’s Future is a Sept. 23, 2024, fictitious name certificate for Progress 2028, according to the name history on file.
The Progress 2028 website was registered on Sept. 26, 2024, according to a domain name lookup.
Building America’s Future listed executive director is Katherine Neal, who has previously worked for political organizations such as Republican State Leadership Committee and the Republican Attorneys General Association, according to her profile for another organization she works with, P2 Pathways Public Affairs.
Building America’s Future’s X account posts ads critical of the Biden administration and shares posts from Trump’s campaign accounts. Additionally, the projects listed on Building America’s Future’s website, some of which are the PAC’s fictitious names registered with the Virginia State Corporation Commission, are either for conservative causes or oppose Biden administration policies.
According to reporting from Open Secrets, Building America’s Future has funded other PACs that have run ads in support of Trump and opposing Democrats, dating back to 2022. Elon Musk steered tens of millions of dollars through Building America’s Future to support anti-Democrat ad campaigns in 2022, Open Secrets reported.
Kamala Harris’ campaign initiatives are listed on her website. VERIFY reached out to the Harris campaign, but has not yet heard back at time of publishing.
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