Who we are, why we started, and what we believe.
The Humphrey Project is an all-volunteer organization of DFL voters, activists, and precinct leaders who believe in confronting extremism inside our own party — not just the other side's.
We are Democrats. We are DFLers. We vote DFL, we caucus DFL, and we knock doors for DFL candidates. We are not Republicans, we are not funded by Republicans, and we are not interested in helping Republicans win elections.
We exist because we believe the DFL is strongest when it represents the values that built it — the values of Hubert Humphrey, Walter Mondale, and Paul Wellstone. Pragmatic liberalism. Democratic institutions. A regulated market economy. A foreign policy grounded in American leadership and human rights. Law enforcement that is funded, reformed, and accountable.
We believe those values are under threat from within.
The Democratic Socialists of America have grown from a fringe activist group into the dominant political force in Minneapolis city government. DSA-endorsed candidates now hold a working majority — with allies — on the Minneapolis City Council. They run on the DFL ballot line, benefit from decades of DFL goodwill with voters, and answer to a national platform that calls for abolishing capitalism, defunding police to zero, nationalizing major industries, withdrawing from NATO, and rewriting the U.S. Constitution.
Most DFL voters have never read this platform. Most don't know it exists.
We started The Humphrey Project because we believe voters deserve to know. Not through attack ads or partisan spin — but through their own words, their own votes, their own platform, and their own publicly stated strategy to use the DFL as a temporary vehicle for socialist power.
We believe in the DFL — the real DFL. The party that desegregated Minneapolis, passed the Civil Rights Act, created Medicare, and built the most effective progressive coalition in American history.
We believe you can fight for working people without abolishing capitalism. You can reform policing without defunding it to zero. You can protect tenants without canceling rent and closing eviction courts. You can engage the world without "dismantling the empire."
We believe the DFL should be strong enough to beat the right — and that means being honest about what's happening on the left.
We believe Humphrey had it right: you cannot build progressive change from a party that the public doesn't trust.
We oppose MAGA, we oppose the assault on democratic institutions from the right, and we vote against Republican candidates. Our fight is inside the DFL because that's our home.
Humphrey was the most consequential liberal legislator of the 20th century. He didn't purge the communists because he wanted to move right. He purged them because he wanted to win — and then govern.
We are not connected to, endorsed by, or authorized by the family of Hubert H. Humphrey, the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota, or any institution bearing the Humphrey name. We invoke his legacy because we believe his values are the ones the DFL needs now.
The Humphrey Project is an all-volunteer effort. We have no paid staff, no PAC, and no outside funding. We are DFL voters doing this on our own time because we think it matters.
We research, document, and publish — using DSA's own platform, public voting records, campaign finance filings, peer-reviewed research, and published reporting.
Every factual claim on this site is sourced. Our full source list is available on our Sources page. If we get something wrong, we want to know — contact us and we'll correct it.
Humphrey understood something that too many people have forgotten: the biggest threat to liberalism isn't always the other party. Sometimes it's the people inside your own coalition who would rather be pure than effective, who would rather protest than govern, and who would rather burn down institutions than reform them.
In the 1940s, that threat came from communists aligned with the Soviet Union. Today, it comes from democratic socialists who openly plan to use the DFL as a stepping stone to a separate socialist party.
At the same time, the threat from the right has never been more serious. MAGA Republicans have attacked the peaceful transfer of power, demonized immigrants, and packed the courts. The DFL needs to be strong enough to beat them.
It can't do that if its candidates are running on a platform that calls for abolishing capitalism and defunding police to zero. Humphrey was willing to say so. So are we.
Get in touch — we welcome tips, corrections, and participation from DFL voters who share these values.