Which Republican leaders publicly support or oppose Project 2025 as of 2024?

1. Who claims the blueprint and who says it’s theirs — Leaders named as supporters

Journalistic and advocacy reporting has identified a concrete list of Republican-aligned figures publicly linked to Project 2025 or portrayed as supporters. A compilation published in late reporting lists names such as Russell Vought, Peter Navarro, J.D. Vance, Michael Anton, Brendan Carr, Stephen Miller, Adam Candeub, Karoline Leavitt, Tom Homan, Stephen Moore, Pete Hoekstra, John Ratcliffe, and Mandy Gunasekara as figures associated with or seeming to support the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 ^[2]. Independent summaries and civil liberties analysis also note support or connection from other Republicans — including Pam Bondi, Linda McMahon, and Harmeet Dhillon — in coverage that frames Project 2025 as a Heritage-led conservative blueprint for federal governance ^[3]. These listings are presented as matter-of-fact identifications of people who have contributed to, promoted, or otherwise been publicly tied to the project in 2024 reporting; the sources present these ties as evidence of support or involvement ^{[2] [3]}.

2. One very visible Republican said he wasn’t on board — Trump’s public distancing

Public statements from Donald Trump in 2024 and reporting through 2025 record Trump’s explicit distancing from Project 2025, with media accounts saying he declared unfamiliarity with the document and rejected parts of it ^{[1] [4]}. Contemporary reporting notes overlap between Project 2025 proposals and Trump’s own campaign themes — taxes, immigration, executive authority — while also documenting Trump’s public statement that he “had no idea who is behind it” and had not read the document, framing his posture as nonendorsement even where policy alignment exists ^{[1] [4]}. PBS reporting later noted the same divide, citing Trump’s denial of responsibility for the plan as a clear public position distinct from the Heritage Foundation’s promotion of the blueprint ^[5]. The factual through-line: Trump did not endorse Project 2025 publicly and proactively distanced himself from the plan even as similarities to his agenda were noted by reporters ^{[1] [4] [5]}.

3. Campaign-era and institutional context — who authored and who amplifies the plan

Project 2025 is presented by sources as a Heritage Foundation-authored, executive-branch blueprint intended for rapid policy implementation under a future conservative administration; its authors and amplifiers include former cabinet officials and conservative policy operatives ^{[3] [4]}. Reporting contextualizes that several former or prospective Trump administration figures contributed to or backed the plan’s architecture, which explains why media outlets identify numerous Republican-aligned supporters among former officials and right-leaning operatives ^{[4] [2]}. The American Civil Liberties Union and other watchdog-style reports frame the initiative as both an ideological program and a practical playbook for reshaping federal governance, suggesting the roster of supporters is meaningful both as political signaling and as a practical coalition of implementers ^[3].

4. Public opposition, silence, or ambiguity among GOP leaders — what’s missing from lists

Across the surveyed reporting, there is scant evidence of senior GOP leaders publicly opposing Project 2025 in 2024; instead, many prominent Republicans either declined to endorse it publicly, remained silent, or issued distancing statements such as Trump’s. AP and PBS coverage emphasize that some key Republican figures were not documented as endorsers or critics in available reporting, noting absence as notable: reporters found little clear public opposition by ruling GOP leaders and many senators and governors had not taken explicit public positions on the project as of the coverage dates ^{[1] [5]}. This pattern of omission is in itself a factual finding: the public record from 2024 shows named supporters and prominent ambiguity or neutrality among many GOP leaders ^{[2] [1]}.

5. Who is promoting the plan inside GOP politics — activists and primary challengers

Reporting documents that Project 2025’s architects and close promoters have moved from policy writing to direct political engagement, using the blueprint to influence primaries and internal GOP debates; one author of the plan ran as a primary challenger to Sen. Lindsey Graham, demonstrating an active strategy to place plan proponents into elected office ^[5]. Coverage highlights Paul Dans and other organizers who have worked to translate the paper blueprint into electoral leverage, indicating that support for Project 2025 exists not only among policy intellectuals but also among politically active campaigners and challengers seeking institutional footholds ^[5]. The factual implication is that support for the plan extends into electoral tactics, not just think-tank publications.

6. What the public record shows and where uncertainty remains

Summing the documented record: multiple conservative figures and former officials are publicly tied to Project 2025 as supporters, several major outlets documented Trump’s distancing, and many GOP leaders did not record clear public opposition by the end of 2024. The sources reviewed emphasize the Heritage Foundation’s central authorship and a roster of named supporters while also noting gaps where senior elected Republicans did not take public stances ^{[2] [3] [1] [5]}. That combination of named supporters, activist promoters, and notable GOP silence or distancing constitutes the verified public record through the cited reporting; unresolved ambiguity persists about the private views of many party leaders who did not speak publicly on the project in 2024 ^[4].