Kevin Roberts

President of the heritage foundation

Kevin Roberts is the president of the Heritage Foundation, the organization spearheading Project 2025’s “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise”, a blueprint for a conservative administration that consolidates power in the executive branch and replaces thousands of federal employees with conservatives. Roberts has helped facilitate Heritage’s decades-long attacks on the climate movement and democracy. Heritage is also a large recipient of donations from major fossil fuel companies. Both the Heritage Foundation and Robert have profited from climate crimes – in 2022, Heritage earned $106 million in revenue and Roberts earned $622,489. 

  • Birthday: June 24, 1974

    Hometown: Louisiana, USA

    Primary residence: 

    Current role: President of the Heritage Foundation

    Net worth: Unknown

    2022 Salary: $622,489 

    Education: 

    • PhD in American History from the University of Texas at Austin (2003)

    • MA in History from Virginia Tech (1999)

    • BA in history from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (1996)

    Board memberships, affiliations, and roles:

    • Host of the Kevin Roberts Show

    • Trustee of Heritage Foundation

    • Board member of Texas Public Policy Foundation

    • President of Heritage Action for America

    • As of 2021, the Heritage Foundation was a member of the Atlas Network (Atlas no longer publicly lists its members) 

    Past roles: 

  • The Heritage Foundation is one of the most influential right-wing, climate-denying think tanks in the US working to shape public policy. 


    Deregulation in Project 2025

    • The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 wrote the Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise – Policy proposals for a potential Trump presidency in 2025 that include major cuts to environmental agencies & expansions of fossil fuel operations. Project 2025, a $22 million endeavor, reportedly “calls for replacing the White House climate adviser with an ‘energy/environment’ adviser who would pivot to serving the needs of the fossil fuel industry.” The Project has proposed the elimination of 3 agencies that are necessary for the energy transition and seeks to massively expand gas infrastructure, and cuts the environmental justice and public engagement functions of the EPA.

    • Project 2025 also proposes a transition blueprint for consolidating power in the executive branch, dismantling federal agencies, and recruiting conservative government employees that the New York Times reported as a move to “free the next Republican president from a system that Roberts views as stacked against conservative power.” Roberts said that “the Trump administration, with the best of intentions, simply got a slow start. And Heritage and our allies in Project 2025 believe that must never be repeated.”


    Climate Denialism

    • The Heritage Foundation has a long history of climate denialism and has been dubbed as a “climate denial front group” by Greenpeace. An article by Heritage written in 2023 titled “Hot Weather Does Not Mean Climate Change”, argued that instead of putting money towards green energy, “a better use of funds would be to buy air conditioners to keep people cool during hot months.” Another article titled “The Impossible Energy ‘Transition’” argued that “there is no science out there, or no scenario out there, that says that the phaseout of fossil fuel is what’s going to achieve 1.5 C.”

    • Heritage has pushed anti-ESG legislation and is seen by many right-wing organizations as “woke capitalism.” The Heritage Foundation and Heritage Action launched a national campaign called “ESG Hurts”, advocating against the adoption of ESG policies through a 60-second advertisement.

    • The Heritage’s website has a list of policy proposals for climate change: “reject carbon taxes and stop regulation of greenhouse gasses”, “withdraw from the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)”, and “withdraw the EPA endangerment finding on greenhouse gas emissions and address the uncertainties in climate science.”

    • Heritage is also a former member of the Cooler Heads Coalition (as of 2004), which calls itself an “informal and ad-hoc group focused on dispelling the myths of global warming.” 


    Funding

    • The Heritage Foundation has received funding from fossil fuel corporations including $780,000 from ExxonMobil since 1998. 

    • Heritage received $6,130,201 from Koch Foundations from 1997 to 2017.


    Voter Suppression

    • The Heritage Foundation is one of the leaders behind the movement to suppress voters and call elections into question. Heritage has worked with ALEC on ways to impose new voting restrictions. Paul Weyrich, the founder of the Heritage Foundation, said: “I don’t want everybody to vote. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.” 

    • The Heritage Foundation runs the Election Law Reform Initiative, which pushes for mandatory ID laws & mail-in voting restrictions, especially for first-time voters.

  • Both the Heritage Foundation and Kevin Roberts have benefitted from climate crimes. In 2022, Heritage earned $106 million in revenue and Kevin Roberts received $622,489. Heritage reportedly provides first-class or charter travel to their employees. The Heritage Foundation received its highest number of donations in 2023, reportedly raising over $150 million. 

  • The Heritage Foundation was founded in 1973 by Paul Weyrich to “formulate and promote conservative public policies based on the principles of free enterprise, limited government, individual freedom, traditional American values, and a strong national defense.” 


    Heritage has strong ties to the fossil fuel industry and is one of the top 3 recipients of polluter industrial complex money, along with the American Enterprise Institute and the Hoover Institution. Heritage also has a long history of public climate denialism and supporting voter suppression. 

  • Even Donald Trump has tried to distance himself from Project 2025’s extremism through posts on Truth Social, the social media platform owned by the Trump Media & Technology Group. 

    • On July 5, 2024, Trump posted: “I know nothing about Project 2025. I have no idea who is behind it. I disagree with some of the things they’re saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal. Anything they do, I wish them luck, but I have nothing to do with them.”

      • The Biden-Harris campaign responded with various fact-checks and disclaimers on their social media. On  July 6, 2024, Biden posted on X: “What is he talking about? Trump is lying about Project 2025. It’s his people and his plan. But it’s your freedom and future at risk. Trump’s ‘project’ will destroy America. If you don’t believe me, google it.”

    • On July 11, 2024, Trump wrote: “I know nothing about Project 2025. I have not seen it, have no idea who is in charge of it, and, unlike our very well received Republican Platform, had nothing to do with it. The Radical Left Democrats are having a field day, however, trying to hook me into whatever policies are stated or said. It is pure disinformation on their part. By now, after all of these years, everyone knows where I stand on EVERYTHING!  DJT”

    Many groups have been writing about Project 2025 and exposing its threats to democracy. For example, Accountable.Us’s “Expose Project 2025” page states: “Project 2025 is not just a plan; it’s a five-alarm fire threatening the very core of our democracy and freedoms.” The mission of Accountable.Us, a project of Monitoring Influence, reads: “It’s time to shine a light on Project 2025 and its backers. By spotlighting the Heritage Foundation’s role, identifying the key figures involved, and highlighting the extreme nature of their policies, we can educate and enable the public to counter this threat and prevent the imposition of an extremist agenda on everyday Americans.” 

    Activists protested Project 2025 outside of the Heritage Foundation in DC. 


    Roberts faced pushback after a controversial statement he said on Steve Bannon’s podcast called “War Room”: “...we are in the process of the second American revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”

    • “Americans in 2024 are in the process of carrying out the Second American Revolution to take power back from the elites and despotic bureaucrats. These patriots are committed to peaceful revolution at the ballot box.” –Roberts on X, July 3, 2024

    • “Eliminate it. The U.S. Department of Education is one of the most egregious failures in modern humankind.” –Roberts on X, responding to a video of a pride flag outside of a Dept. of Education building on June 10, 2024

    • “Biden’s anti-energy policies rob the world’s poor of affordable, reliable power, hinder our economy, and aid adversaries like Russia. Which begs the question: is blocking natural gas exports actually retribution for Texas securing the border?” –Roberts on X, January 28, 2024

    • Roberts argued that “Climate alarmism is probably the greatest cause for mental health crisis in the world”, and that proposed solutions are “far worse” than the problem itself. –Roberts, 2024

    • “...We are in the process of the second American revolution, which will remain bloodless if the left allows it to be.”–Roberts on Steve Bannon’s podcast, “War Room,” in 2024

    • “The Trump administration, with the best of intentions, simply got a slow start. And Heritage and our allies in Project 2025 believe that must never be repeated.” He also said the Heritage Foundation's role is “institutionalizing Trumpism.” –Roberts, 2024

    • “Heritage is known throughout the conservative movement and policy community as a solutions factory. As a lifelong, movement conservative, I have always seen Heritage as the beacon of conservatism and of the American dream. In recent years, as I have worked with Heritage scholars on several issues, I came to appreciate Heritage’s critical role at this particular point in history. Coming from a state as free and prosperous as Texas, I’m eager to share the innovative ideas we developed and build on them.” –Roberts 

    • Regarding cuts to federal employees: “People will lose their jobs. Hopefully their lives are able to flourish in spite of that.” –Roberts

Connections within the Polluter Industrial Complex

What is the Polluter Industrial Complex?

  • The Atlantic described Heritage as the “de facto policy arm of the congressional conservative caucus.” Heritage proudly touts its role in influencing conservative policies. Heritage members often testify before Congress, hire past government workers, and write model policies. Heritage has said that more than 100 Heritage “policy experts and researchers are invited to testify before Congress nearly 40 times a year.” 

    Heritage also works to train conservative young professionals for future jobs on Capitol Hill. They run a “Young Leaders” summer program, a “Congressional Fellowship” program for junior staffers, a 21-session class for senior conservative staffers called the Feulner-Weyrich Fellows Program, and a program for mid-level staffers called the “Civil Society Fellowship.” 


    Roberts has said that the Heritage Foundation's role is “institutionalizing Trumpism” and Heritage was an influential force behind Trump’s transition team. In 2021, the Heritage Foundation welcomed four former Trump cabinet members as visiting fellows:

    • Mike Pence – former Vice President

    • Andrew Wheeler – former Environmental Protection Agency Administrator

    • Chad Wolf – former acting Homeland Security Secretary

    • Robert L. Wilkie – former Veteran Affairs Secretary

    The Heritage Foundation helped Reagan win the presidency & many of Reagan’s policy proposals came from the first Mandate for Leadership in 1980.

    Kevin Roberts’ Federal Election Campaign Contributions

    • Judge John Carter for Congress Committee

      • $500 in 2021

    • John R Carter

      • $500 in 2021

    • WinRed- GOP platform endorsed by the Republican National Committee

      • $500 in 2021

    The Heritage Foundation’s Political Donations 

    (Note these are not direct donations, but likely bundled donations from employees, board members, and affiliates, because organizations themselves cannot contribute to candidates and party committees)

    • 2024

      • $75,000 in Sentinel Action Fund

      • $11,306 to Donald Trump (R)

      • $2,944 to the Fairfax County Republican Committee

      • $1,800 Scott Parkinson (R)

    • 2022

      • $4,267,965 to the Sentinel Action Fund

      • $5,800 to Yuripzy Morgan (R)

      • $3,387 to Ron Johnson (R)

        • 2022 environmental score: 4%

      • $3,071 to the Republican Party of Virginia

      • $2,899 to Jeff Cozzens (R)

      • $2,757 to Mike Lee (R)

        • 2022 environmental score: 5%

      • $1,750 to Adam Laxalt (R)


    In 2021, two dozen House Republicans, and conservative organizations including the Heritage Foundation, held a secret climate summit in Salt Lake City to formulate a Republican response to global warming.

  • Vought Strategies

    • Mary G. Vought, Heritage’s VP of Strategic Communications, formed Vought Strategies.

      • According to Heritage’s website, Vought “proudly served as a Donald J. Trump presidential appointee on the National Council on Disability.”

    • Vought Strategies’ 2024 payments

      • $120,218 to the Senate Conservatives Fund

      • $37,500 to the Senate Conservatives Action

    • Vought Strategies' 2022 payments

      • $126,000 to the Senate Conservatives Action

      • $122,258 to the Senate Conservatives Fund

  • Heritage Foundation Lobbying: Heritage Action for America (the 501(c)(4) advocacy arm of Heritage)

    • Lobbyists:

      • Sarah Feldpausch

        • Former policy advisor for the Department of Education

      • Michael Rogenmoser

      • Ryan L. Walker

        • Current Director of Government Relations

        • Former legislative correspondent for the US House of Representatives

        • Former campaign manager for Mautz for Delegate

    • $430,000 in 2022

      • Lobbyists:

        • Walker Gallman

          • Former intern for Tom Graves

            • Lifetime environmental score: 3%

          • Former legislative correspondent for Rick Allen

            • Lifetime environmental score: 1%

        • Randall Gibson

          • Former legislative assistant for Lamar Alexander

            • Lifetime environmental score: 20%

        • Ryan L. Walker

  • The Heritage Foundation’s election law division is led by Hans von Spakovsky. He is also a senior legal fellow at Heritage’s judicial and legal center. According to Monitoring Influence, von Spakowsky is “one of the leading voices pushing right-wing, voter fraud conspiracy theories to promote laws that would limit access to voting.”

    Oversight Project, a project formed by the Heritage Foundation, filed a lawsuit in 2023 against the Biden administration and the Department of Defense (DOD) to release all collected records of the movie “Sound of Freedom”, a film about sex trafficking in Latin America and the US. The movie screening was reportedly canceled by SOUTHCOM earlier in the year. The Oversight Project requested the documents through the Freedom of Information Act but was denied by the DOD.

    The Heritage Foundation filed another lawsuit against the Biden administration and the US Department of Justice over access to five hours worth of an audio-recording interview held between President Biden and a special prosecutor. This prosecutor decided against criminal charges that Biden “mishandled classified information.” Mike Howell was considered part of the “Heritage Plaintiffs” and is the executive director of the Oversight Project.

    The Heritage Foundation also filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security to release Prince Harry’s immigration records, out of fear of his “admitted use of illegal drugs.” Heritage argued that this concern should be taken into serious condition when determining Prince Harry’s eligibility for a US visa. 

    John Malcolm is Heritage’s Vice President for the Institute for Constitutional Government and Director of the Meese Center and the Simon Center and oversees Heritage’s “work to increase the understanding of the Constitution and the rule of law.” Hans A. von Spakovsky, a fellow at the Meese Center released an article for Heritage titled “Shutting down debate on climate change” that compares climate denialism to Galileo’s groundbreaking Copernican theory. 

  • Project 2025’s list of advisory board members is long, but some key groups include: 

    • Independent Women’s Forum

      • A conservative and anti-climate legislation think tank. 

      • Mandy Gunasekara, another climate criminal, has worked for the IWF.

    • Texas Public Policy Foundation

      • Previously led by Bernard McNamee, another climate criminal, who wrote the chapter on the Department of Energy.

      • Has received at least $3,618,747 in Koch funding since 1998. 

    • Institute for Energy Research

      • Charles Koch was involved with the formation of the IER through The Institute for Humane Studies of Texas, the IER’s predecessor organization. 

    • Mackinac Center for Public Policy

      • Has received at least $5,322,550 from Donors Capital Fund and $3,666,700 from DonorsTrust 

      • Has received at least $1,085,151 in Koch funding since 2001

    • National Center for Public Policy Research

    • National Rifle Association

    • Pacific Research Institute

    • Etc. 

    State Policy Network

    • Heritage is part of the State Policy Network, a network that partners with conservative foundations and think tanks. Thomas A. Roe – a member of the Heritage Board of Trustees – founded the State Policy Network in 1991.

    Texas Public Policy Foundation

    • Roberts was the executive director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation, a conservative think tank, until 2021. This is a policy organization with strong links to the oil and gas industry.

  • Roberts got a BA in history from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 1996, an MA in History from Virginia Tech in 1999, and a PhD in American History from the University of Texas at Austin in 2003.


    Kevin Roberts was the former president of Wyoming Catholic College (WCC) from 2013 to 2016. Under Roberts’s leadership, in 2015, the college decided to stop receiving federal student aid in a move to be fully independent of federal involvement. Roberts said, “It allows us to practice our Catholic faith without qualifying it. It’s clear that this administration does not care about Catholic teaching.” 

  • Since 1986, the Heritage Foundation has received roughly $197,793,674 from private foundations, institutes, and NGOs.

    Heritage leadership and board: connections to private foundations 

    • Rebekah Mercer – Trustee of the Heritage Foundation & Board member of Heritage Action for America

      • Principal member of the Mercer Family Foundation

      • Closely connected with Breitbart and Steve Bannon 

      • Described by the Washington Post as the “First Lady of the Alt-Right” 

    • Michael Gleba – Vice chairman of the Heritage Foundation

      • Chair & CEO of the Sarah Scaife Foundation

    • Jessica Anderson – Executive Director of Heritage Action for America

      • Was previously the associate director of intergovernmental affairs and strategic initiatives for the Office of Management and Budget in the Trump administration

    • Sean Fieler – Board member of Heritage Action for America

      • Conservative mega-donor known for anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ ideology