As Donald J. Trump was closing in on the 270 electoral votes that sealed his astounding political victory in the early hours of Wednesday, one of the first groups to salute him was the Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank behind Project 2025, a policy playbook that Mr. Trump had feigned ignorance about during the campaign.

“The entire conservative movement stands united behind him as he prepares to secure our wide-open border, restore the rule of law, put parents back in charge of their children’s education, restore America to its proper place as a leader in manufacturing, put families and children first, and dismantle the deep state,” Kevin Roberts, the foundation’s president, said in a statement.

Democrats had spent months trying to tie Mr. Trump to the 900-page plan to overhaul the federal government, one that they had said offered an unvarnished preview of a second-term agenda bent on giving him unchecked powers to exact retribution while undermining abortion rights and climate change reforms.

Despite several of the plan’s authors having served in Mr. Trump’s administration during his first term in the White House, he repeatedly disavowed it on the campaign trail, including when he debated Vice President Kamala Harris. He falsely claimed that he knew nothing about it or the people involved in it.

Across the battleground states, voters were inundated with television ads and billboards that tried to cast Mr. Trump as a driving force for Project 2025.

Here is what to know about Project 2025, and who is behind it.

What is Project 2025?

Project 2025 was spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation and like-minded conservative groups before Mr. Trump officially entered the 2024 race. The Heritage Foundation is a think tank that has shaped the personnel and policies of Republican administrations since the Reagan presidency.

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