Investing in America's Renewal

Dear Friend,

As 2025 draws to a close, your giving to The Claremont Institute remains one of the most consequential investments you can make in America’s renewal.

Nowhere is that investment more visible than in Washington.

This year, 85 Claremont Alumni–graduates of our Publius, Lincoln, John Marshall, and Speechwriters Fellowships–were appointed to pivotal roles across the Trump Administration.

This is the harvest of decades of cultivation meeting the moment of opportunity.

For years, we have recruited, vetted, and formed leaders. When the new administration needed trusted talent on day one, Claremont knew exactly who was ready.

The result: instant placement of Claremont-trained statesmen across the federal government.

CLAREMONT ALUMNI LEADING AMERICA’S RENEWAL

Our alumni now influence every major area of national policy, including:

• Economic stewardship

• Border security & MAHA initiatives

• Defense and intelligence reform

• Higher education & civil rights enforcement

• Foreign policy and national security strategy

• The dismantling of the administrative state

Across these domains, Claremont-trained leaders are providing the principled statesmanship this moment demands.

FOREIGN POLICY, STRATEGY & “PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH”

Claremont Alumni are shaping the conceptual and strategic direction of American statecraft.

• Michael Anton (Publius 1994), our Jack Roth Senior Fellow, served as Director of Policy Planning at the State Department, steering core foreign policy priorities. 
• He is joined by fellows Michael Needham, Jeremy Carl, Arthur Milikh, Darren Beattie, Alex Alden, and others–advancing a disciplined America First approach to international affairs.

Their work has helped reassert America’s message of peace through strength.

CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNANCE & EQUAL JUSTICE

Several of our alumni now serve at the highest levels of the constitutional system:

• Russ Vought (Lincoln 2011), confirmed as Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
• Elliott Gaiser (John Marshall 2016), now Assistant Attorney General at the Office of Legal Counsel
• Aaron Reitz (John Marshall 2018), served as Assistant Attorney General at the DOJ’s Office of Legal Policy–recently stepping down to seek elected office as Texas Attorney General.
• James Braid (Lincoln 2019), now the White House Legislative Affairs Director, is the indispensable point man moving the President’s agenda through Congress.

These leaders ensure that constitutional governance—not bureaucratic inertia—drives federal action.

BORDER SECURITY & NATIONAL SOVEREIGNTY

Claremont Alumni are also at the forefront of restoring America’s borders.

Fellows Troup Hemenway, Zachary Carstens, Joe Guy, and Adam Hoffman serve across the White House, DHS, and other agencies where they:

• Enforce immigration law
• Restore national sovereignty
• Reverse the flood of illegal immigration that occurred under the previous administration

Their work is essential to protecting American communities and upholding the rule of law.

HIGHER EDUCATION REFORM

As the Department of Education reasserts federal non-discrimination law, free speech, and protections against foreign influence, Claremont alumni remain central to this restoration.

Fellows Jonathan Pidluzny, Murray Bessette, and Cherise Trump, have secured significant wins to return excellence and accountability to American higher education.

NATIONAL SECURITY & INTELLIGENCE REFORM

Claremont’s influence reaches even the most sensitive domains of American security.

• Michael Ellis (John Marshall 2012), now Deputy Director of the CIA, draws on years of experience—including service in the House Intelligence Committee—to shape reforms inside the intelligence community.

SHAPING THE ADMINISTRATION’S VOICE

One of the most striking successes this year has been the Claremont Institute’s Speechwriters Fellowship.

More than 15 alumni now serve as speechwriters across the executive branch—at the White House and in the Departments of War, State, Homeland Security, Agriculture, and HHS.

Their clarity, constitutional grounding, and excellence shape the ideas guiding the administration every day.

YOUR SUPPORT MAKES ALL OF THIS POSSIBLE

These are only a few highlights from our 85 alumni placements across the Administration.

Your investment in Claremont's fellowship programs created the vetted, trusted, principled leaders our nation needed at the decisive moment. 

As we enter 2026—America’s 250th year—we must train and place even more leaders to meet the challenges ahead.

Join us before the year ends.

Donate now to help us place more patriotic Claremont alumni where the future of America is shaped and to advance the ideas that are now governing the nation.

With gratitude,

Ryan P. Williams

President, The Claremont Institute

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