Lincoln Project out with first ad supporting ‘warrior’ Kamala Harris for President

The Lincoln Project, a group established by a group of anti-Donald Trump Republican operatives, is out with its first ad supporting Vice President Kamala Harris for President.

The ad comes less than 24 hours after President Joe Biden announced that he would not accept the Democratic Party’s nomination and would no longer seek re-election. Following his announcement, Biden endorsed his Vice President as his successor, unleashing a flurry of other support from congressional Democrats, Democratic Governors and even state delegations to the Democratic National Committee.

The ad opens similarly to the way those Harris endorsers approached news of Biden’s withdrawal — with thanks and admiration for our nation’s current Commander in Chief.

“No one wanted it this way,” a gruff-voiced narrator begins over footage of Biden meeting with constituents flashing his token smile. “Joe Biden is a good man, a good American, a great President.”

But, it continues, “time and the burden of the office means it’s time to step aside, to put a warrior into the political arena ready to take on Donald Trump, to face up to the un-American plan Trump and Project 2025 will impose.”

That warrior, the group says, is Harris.

“Vice President Kamala Harris is ready, experienced, and as a tough prosecutor, Kamala Harris dealt with men like Trump all the time — rapists, con men, frauds, criminals,” the narrator continues, comparing Trump to such nefarious bad actors.

“She’s used to guys like Trump, used to putting them in their place.”

The ad then pivots to footage of Harris speaking during a rally.

“Do we believe in opportunity?” she asks to a roaring “yes” from the crowd. “Do we believe in the promise of America?”

The ad ends on what supporters will no doubt view as a hopeful note, complete with a change in background music to a more serene tune.

“Kamala Harris will bring something to Trump he’s rarely seen: Justice.”

The Lincoln Project, launched initially to oppose Trump, has become one of the nation’s leading pro-democracy organizations. Its mission is to preserve, protect and defend democracy, and its work targets any candidate or official who threatens it.

In a press release announcing the ad Monday morning, the group wrote that “Harris is the warrior America needs to soundly defeat Donald Trump and Project 2025.” Project 2025 is a more than 900-page platform created by the conservative Heritage Foundation and other aligned groups, including many who have worked in Trump’s orbit.

Trump himself has denied any affiliation to the platform, but his vice presidential pick, U.S. Sen. JD Vance, wrote a foreword for Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts’ book, “Dawn’s Early Light: Burning Down Washington to Save America.” He called it “a bold new vision for the future of conservatism in America,” according to Newsweek.

While Trump continues to distance himself from Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation created it as a blueprint for his next term as President should he secure victory later this year. It calls for the elimination of numerous agencies and the expansion of executive power, and would increase the number of political appointees to jobs historically held in an apolitical way that spans various presidencies and political ideologies.

Democrats have blasted the plan as seeking to create authoritarian dystopia that would feed into what is often described as Trump’s dictator-like tendencies.

The Lincoln Project ad is the group’s second public statement since Biden announced he was suspending his re-election campaign. Its first statement, issued Monday after Biden’s announcement, focused solely on praising the President and vowing to continue its work fighting Trump.

“We now turn to the target from which the Lincoln Project has never wavered; the political defeat of Donald Trump and the destruction of his autocratic movement,” Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson said. “The felon Donald Trump is a malicious criminal, a gibbering serial liar, and a corrupt autocrat primed for a wipe defeat this fall.”