The third night of the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago featured more mostly thematic speeches, including by former president Bill Clinton, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries and vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz. Here are four claims that caught our attention, in the order in which they were made.
Analysis by Glenn Kessler
“Page 451 says the only legitimate family is a married mother and father where only the father works.”
— Colorado Gov. Jared Polis
It’s a matter of interpretation. Polis was one of several speakers during the convention who have highlighted passages in a Heritage Foundation report called “Mandate for Leadership,” a 922-page catalogue of conservative proposals that is popularly known as Project 2025.
But the report’s Page 451 does not use the words that Polis suggested he was quoting, nor does it say that mothers should not work. On that page is a proposal for the Department of Health and Human Services to promote “stable and flourishing married families.”
“Families comprised of a married mother, father, and their children are the foundation of a well-ordered nation and healthy society,” the report says, accusing the Biden HHS of “agenda items focusing on ‘LGBTQ+ equity,’ subsidizing single-motherhood, disincentivizing work, and penalizing marriage.”
The report also says that “working fathers are essential to the well-being and development of their children, but the United States is experiencing a crisis of fatherlessness that is ruining our children’s futures.” To combat this trend, the report says, “HHS should prioritize married father engagement in its messaging, health, and welfare policies.”
While Page 451 doesn’t actually say that the “only legitimate family” is the one it defines here, the implication is nonetheless strong. (Project 2025 page-number callouts in a skit by comedian Kenan Thompson mostly described the proposals on those pages accurately.)
