Through a combination of textual analysis of leadership statements and interviews with young cadres of the Egyptian Muslim Brothers, this paper traces the movement’s evolving understanding of its political and Islamic mission in the year since its political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party, gained control of Egyptian government. I analyze the vision of the Islamist project that emerges from young MB division leaders’ discourse and the Morsy government’s statements on the state’s role in defending and promoting Islam – whether through legislative ‘red lines’ defending sharia-based social and legal norms, ‘Islamizing’ state institutions, or promoting an Islamist economic policy – and the role they see for traditional movement da’wa and political activism compared with that for state and judicial authorities in realizing the Islamic polity. I also consider what vision of an Islamic polity emerges from new training programs the MB have developed for members involved in political work. I ask whether the demands of electoral competition have pushed the MB/FJP to emphasize a more conservative religious line in their training (in response to Salafi success), or to focus on populist politics and the mechanics of winning elections. Finally, I consider how the movement’s self-image of being the premier Islamist organization in Egypt is changing as it focuses on the challenges of governance and increasingly cedes the initiative for Islamic policies to other Islamist parties and an independent al-Azhar, and ask what may happen to the movement’s identity as it increasingly emphasizes electoral majorities rather than religious leadership as the basis of its Islamist mandate.