A prominent environmentalist group that helped draft President Joe Biden’s 2020 climate plan hasn’t lined up behind him in 2024.
The Sunrise Movement, a group led by young progressive Democratic activists, first gained headlines for a sit-in protest in former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) office alongside Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). Though it was supportive of Biden in 2020 and helped draft his climate plan, fossil fuel projects and his handling of the war in Gaza have caused relations to sour.
“Biden is shooting himself in the foot: his actions on fossil fuels and Gaza mean he’s not going to get the celebration he’s looking for from environmentalist voters,” Stevie O’Hanlon, communications director for Sunrise Movement, told Axios.
“Sunrise is still finalizing plans for the 2024 general election,” she added.
The Sunrise Movement shared the Axios article with a vague statement, saying it would be “sharing more details … soon” regarding a “massive youth voter operation” similar to that of 2020. It claimed to have contacted 3.5 million young voters, urging them to vote against former President Donald Trump.
The group’s frosty reception of Biden is another warning about his struggles to keep young voters in his column — a key demographic that helped propel him to victory in 2020.
“Our voter contact work is volunteer driven,” O’Hanlon said. “That means if our generation’s frustration with Joe Biden remains at its current levels through the summer, our impact will be severely limited.”
Despite the environmental focus of the group, much of the frustration revolves around the war in Gaza. The group has called the war a “genocide” on several occasions and warned Biden that he would “hand the election to Trump” if he doesn’t cut off funding to Israel.
The Biden administration has prided itself on its climate policies, with Biden himself declaring himself the greenest president ever. Biden campaign spokesman Seth Schuster defended the president’s record.
“Joe Biden delivered the largest-ever investment to combat climate change, while Donald Trump continues to call climate change a ‘hoax’ and promises oil and gas executives they’ll get whatever they want … if they donate to his campaign,” Schuster told Axios.
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Despite hesitancy to endorse Biden, the Sunrise Movement is de facto supporting him by once again urging young voters to vote against Trump.
On Tuesday, the group shared a video from Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) declaring that the November election will determine whether “white supremacist, MAGA individuals who are turning this democracy into a fascist state” will take power.
