Words To Watch Out For As The 2028 “Ideas Primary” Begins

‍The 2028 “ideas primary” begins today.

All Americans who treasure our best traditions and our republic should be grateful for the midterm outcome. Democrats ran strong candidates with strong campaigns. But it would be a mistake to overread the results. As analyst Charlie Cook has said, this was a “blue wave” made possible by “a red undertow” – rising cost of living and a costly, pointless war; a president whose cruelty and focus on self-aggrandizement has made him historically unpopular.

Democrats are now poised to be a strong check on the Trump Administration over the next two years. But they cannot squander that time. In years like 1994 and 2010, political tsunamis in the midterms have been followed by reversals in the next presidential election.

A party can win midterms by opposing; it wins the White House by proposing.

Exit polls and pre-election polls show the work that is ahead for Democrats. On election day, 53% of voters had an unfavorable view of the Democratic Party. In a CBS News poll released last week, 57% said the Democratic Party does not have a clear vision for the future. And, according to Pew, only 15% of registered voters said Democratic candidates explained their plans and vision extremely or very well.

That’s why the 2028 presidential primary needs to be an “ideas primary” instead of solely an argument over electability and personalities. And it should not be a factional fight within the Democratic Party. Project 2029’s goal is to seed and shape that landscape of ideas so the next president is ready to deliver for Americans right away and to do so we’re working with thinkers from across the Democratic spectrum.

We’re already seeing Project 2029 ideas move the discussion. But the big debate we need is just getting started. The 2028 election will be the most wide open campaign America has seen in decades. Republicans will have to decide whether they double down on Trumpism or back down and reclaim their party’s principles.

For Democrats, the question is “what comes next?” They too will have to answer America’s yearning for a new, more hopeful direction. That means more than just rhetoric, but concrete plans that are bold, credible, and bring real change.

As the campaign gets underway, here are two categories of words to watch out for and weary of:

“Undo”/”Rebuild”/”Restore”/”Rollback”: The next President absolutely has to take major steps to “De-Trumpify” the federal government. The next President must clean up the corruption, overreach, and trampling of rights that has occurred under the Trump Administration and put in place safeguards to protect our republic from future autocrats. However, that is necessary, but not sufficient.

Along with cleaning up the mess that Trump made, we need to clean up the mess that made Trump. Returning to a pre-Trump status quo that was not working for most Americans is not an option.

In exit polls, less than one in four voters believed that life will be better for the next generation and nearly three in five say it will be worse. But this is a trend that has been developing for years, even decades. Earlier this year, a Project 2029 analysis showed that Democrats’ electoral problem was not about the ins-and-outs of one campaign but a historic trend. In the nearly 20 years since the Great Recession, the people and places in America that have been most suffering from economic stagnation are the same ones that have been most steadily turning against Democrats.

Today, Americans see:

• A ladder to a better life that has broken down as economic mobility has slowed and education levels have fallen
• An increasingly unrepresentative and unresponsive democracy with a government that seems unable to solve big problems
• Growing control of Washington and our politics by billionaires and big business with corruption in all three branches of government
• Rapid advances in technology and artificial intelligence transforming work and industry

All of these challenges are bigger, and most came before, Donald Trump and MAGA. To address them will require new thinking, not more of the same of what we’ve done before.

“Framing”/”Narrative”/“Telling a Better Story”: This too is necessary, but not sufficient for the next President. To be sure, inspiring Americans to action and winning a mandate for change is essential. And very few Americans will read a turgid white paper or 17 point plan. But they can tell when it’s missing. Smart policies are like the part of the iceberg that is underwater – people may see only the bumper sticker, or these days the TikTok, but the heft underneath is what gives the slogans their power.

Over the past year, Project 2029 has been working with hundreds of America’s most prominent thinkers and doers to develop a big, bold agenda for the nation’s future. Some are fresh voices; others are high-level White House and Cabinet department officials from the past three Democratic administrations. They are CEOs, entrepreneurs, researchers, policy experts, teachers, community organizers, and elected officials at the federal, state, and local levels.

In the weeks and months to come, we’ll be rolling out dozens of big ideas ranging from administrative actions to new legislation to Constitutional reforms because victory in 2029 and being ready to bring big change in 2029 are inextricably linked.

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