The head of the conservative organization behind the Project 2025 initiative was in Columbus to headline a gathering of one of the state’s most influential groups, the Center for Christian Virtue. About two dozen people from student, religious and liberal groups protested outside as he spoke inside.
CCV's inaugural Essential Summit featured a worship service and sessions on business ownership, church leadership and Christian education. The lineup of speakers included Republican Attorney General Dave Yost, Senate President Matt Huffman (R-Lima), Senate Majority Floor Leader Rob McColley (R-Napoleon) and Rep. Josh Williams (R-Sylvania Twp.). The event also included Dr. Ben Carson, Housing and Urban Development secretary under former president Trump, Hillsdale College president Dr. Larry Arnn and Kevin Roberts of the Heritage Foundation.
As the protestors chanted outside the Columbus Convention Center, Roberts delivered the keynote address to a few hundred attendees. Roberts is one of the architects of the Project 2025, a 922-page initiative which describes itself as "the conservative movement’s unified effort to be ready for the next conservative Administration to govern at 12:00 noon, January 20, 2025." Democrats and progressives have blasted Project 2025 for its proposed abortion restrictions, mass deportations, abolishment of federal agencies and end of climate change research, among other plans.
"As a Christian clergy person, I stand offended by many of the things that they are talking about in that room, their theology," said Bishop Dwayne Royster, Executive Director of Faith in Action. "I believe that the message of Jesus Christ is one of inclusion, one of opportunity, one of love, one of care, and one of deep concern. And the language and the things that they're talking about in there are not of care or concern."
Faith leaders and representatives from the Ohio Student Association, Common Cause Ohio and Red Wine and Blue, an Ohio-based progressive leaning group aimed at suburban women.
“New polls show that 70 to 80% of Americans now know about Project 2025, and they do not like it," said Julie Womack, head of organizing at Red Wine and Blue. "The numbers that support it are in the single digits. So the reality is that a very small vocal minority is trying to control us.”
The protest is "a distraction from what's really happening in America," said CCV president Aaron Baer.
"There's obviously things we can debate, but what they've done is they've turned Project 2025 into a general boogeyman," Baer said. "They've just decided to try to brand this with one big swooping, terrible, scary identity. And that's not the truth of Project 2025. And honestly, the reason they're doing that is because they don't actually debate on the issue."
Former president Trump has tried to distance himself from Project 2025, claiming he doesn’t know about it. But many people closely connected to it worked in Trump’s previous administration. Ohio US Sen. JD Vance, Trump's running mate, wrote the forward to Roberts' soon-to-be-released book, which a Vance spokesperson said has nothing to do with Project 2025.
