If you’ve tuned into any coverage of the election this year, you’ve probably heard references to something called Project 2025.

It’s become a bit of a shorthand for a larger proposed presidential transition plan for the next Republican president. Many of the plans for the next “conservative administration” that have been talked about come from a 900-plus-page book titled “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise.”

While the book is not officially Donald Trump’s platform, it was written or edited by multiple people with ties to the Trump administration or campaigns. Kamala Harris and others in the Democratic Party have worked to connect Trump’s campaign to some of the more unpopular ideas outlined in the book, including a national abortion ban, banning TikTok and outlawing pornography.

But there are some elements in the book that haven’t been discussed as much — including those that could have discrete, specific effects on Maryland. We read through the “Mandate for Leadership” to find out what those are.

Firing federal employees

About 158,475 federal employees live in Maryland, according to data from the state last year. Many of them could be out of a job if Trump follows the suggestions of Project 2025.

Several parts of the plan call for cutting federal employees, restructuring federal agencies and, in some cases, privatizing parts of the government.

The plan also calls for replacing career, nonpolitical employees with political appointments. That could mean Marylanders who work for federal agencies would lose job protections or get fired. It promises to explain how to fire “supposedly ‘un-fireable’ federal bureaucrats,” (pg. 9) and says that “fundamentally” a new conservative administration “must fill its ranks with political appointees” (pg. 20) and not cede any authority to “non-partisan ‘experts’” (pg. 21).

Phasing out crab pickers?

Many companies in Maryland rely on international, seasonal workers who pick and process crabs for crabmeat. Those workers use the H-2B visa program, which allows employers to bring in temporary, nonagricultural workers for short-term work.

And in previous years, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have expressed support for the program, including GOP former Gov. Larry Hogan and Rep. Andy Harris, a Republican who represents the Eastern Shore.

But Project 2025 calls for phasing out and eventually eliminating the H-2B visa program, which could make it even harder for producers who sell crabmeat to find employees.

The “Mandate for Leadership” calls for the Department of Homeland Security Secretary to “make it clear” that they will not increase the number of H-2B season visas above the cap set by law (pg. 138) and calls for Congress to cap the program at existing levels and phase it out within 10 years (pg. 612).

The NIH, Cyber Command and the Naval Academy

The authors of Project 2025 suggest that course offerings at all military academies — including the Naval Academy in Annapolis — be audited and scrubbed of “Marxist indoctrination,” and that tenure should be eliminated for academics (pg. 104).

The Bethesda-based National Institutes of Health is also under scrutiny in the plan. As written, the plan would have Congress prohibit research on fetal tissue and end its embryonic stem cell registry, which allows other researchers to gain access to cells for research.

It would also impose “term limits” on “career leaders” at NIH (pg. 462) and calls for the NIH Foundation to be dissolved.

U.S. Cyber Command, which is based in Fort Meade, could also see its work redirected. For example, Project 2025 calls for Cyber Command to stop its work around fortifying elections (pg. 120).

Food benefits and loan forgiveness

Project 2025 calls for re-implementing work requirements for food stamps and to reform categorical eligibility for food stamps (pgs. 299-300). According to the latest federal data, about 772,700 — or about 1 in 8 — Marylanders benefited from SNAP in fiscal year 2022. Potential changes to how SNAP is run would come at a time when enrollment is falling and food assistance demand remains high as families cope with rising grocery prices.

The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, which forgives outstanding balances on direct loans after 10 years of eligible payments for people working for any level of government or nonprofit programs — public school teachers, for instance — would be eliminated under the proposals in Project 2025 (pg. 354).

As of June 2023, more than 20,000 Marylanders have had their loans discharged by the program, according to data from the Department of Education. Maryland has the fifth-highest rate of residents with undergraduate and postgraduate degrees in the country, and therefore also ranks in the top 10 of states for per capita college debt.

The Heritage Foundation makes all of Project 2025 available online for further reading.