Philly state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta rips Project 2025 at DNC: ‘A radical plan to drag us backward’

North Philadelphia State Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta was one of the only Pennsylvania natives to land a coveted speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention, spending his two minutes on stage ripping the conservative “Project 2025″ as a “a radical plan to drag us backward.”

While holding a copy of the 900-page blueprint for a second Trump administration that was put together by the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, Kenyatta, 34, said Republicans would overhaul the federal government under the plan, halt Medicare’s newly granted power to negotiate drug prices, and change regulations on overtime pay for workers.

“My friends, these bad ideas aren’t new,” he said. “As long as we’ve been fighting to make America work for working families, there have been greedy corporate interests trying to take us back.”

Democrats are seeking to make Project 2025 a key campaign issue. Despite some of his administration staff shaping the document, former President Donald Trump has recently distanced himself from the project, saying last month: “I have no idea who is behind it.”

» READ MORE: Project 2025 agenda says former Pa. secretary of state should be ‘investigated and prosecuted’ for 2020

The brief speech was the second time Kenyatta addressed Democratic National Convention-goers. He spoke in prerecorded remarks at the 2020 convention, which was largely virtual due to COVID-related restrictions.

Kenyatta, the Democratic nominee for Pennsylvania auditor general and the first Black and openly LGBTQ person elected to the state legislature, has for several years been considered a rising star in the Democratic Party. He knows President Joe Biden well, leads a presidential advisory commission, and has campaigned with the president across the country.

Kenyatta’s husband, Matthew Kenyatta, posted on X about watching his spouse address the convention. “Listening front row on DNC Floor and trying not to cry. BEYOND PROUD OF MY HUBBY!” he said.

During his remarks Tuesday, Kenyatta invoked his grandmother, saying she called him in 2019 and said, “I’m so sorry baby, I thought my generation fixed this, and here you are fighting the same battles.”

“I want to tell you tonight what I said to my grandma. I said, ‘it’s OK, Grandma. It’s just our turn,’” he said. “It’s our turn to stand up for working people and stand up for our nation’s promise. It’s our turn to defend our rights, and to ensure democracy doesn’t die on our watch.”

Moments after leaving the DNC stage, Kenyatta was coming down from his moment in the national spotlight and strategizing how his party could win his critical home state.

His biggest advice for Vice President Kamala Harris? Keep coming to visit.

“A big part of it is showing up,” Kenyatta said from the convention. “I say this to the Vice President all the time, every time I see her …people want to want to see you. She’s a dynamic person who people connect with because I think folks know in their gut she gives a damn about them, and Gov. Walz exudes that as well.”