7 Green Groups That Didn't Back Biden Just Endorsed Harris as 'Our Only Choice'

July 31, 2024

Print This Article Share it With Friends

by Jessica Corbett (Common Dreams) "With a President Harris, we will have a chance to build the political power to move the bold climate initiatives we need." -- Progressive climate and environmental advocacy groups on Wednesday stressed the threat posed by the Republican presidential ticket and endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee for the November election.

One coalition of six groups—350 Action, Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund, Clean Water Action, Climate Hawks Vote, Food and Water Action, and Friends of the Earth Action—cited Harris' record as vice president and a U.S. senator from California.

Despite his months as the presumptive Democratic nominee, none of the organizations had endorsed President Joe Biden before he dropped out of the race and backed Harris earlier this month.

...

Trump—who earlier this month announced Big Oil-backed Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) as his running mate—has vowed to "drill, baby, drill" and roll back the Biden-Harris administration climate policies if fossil fuel executives pour money into his campaign.

Although the U.S. is among five wealthy countries that have led a global surge in oil and gas development this year, Harris' campaign has warned that "oil barons are salivating" over Trump's potential return to the White House.

A March study found that Trump's plans for a second term would lead to 4 billion more tons of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere by 2030 when compared with the policies of Biden—who has passed the torch to Harris, whose online nomination process is set to start on Thursday.

...

As HEATED, which scooped the endorsement news, reported late Tuesday:

Harris has already received endorsements from the so-called "Big Green" groups—the political arms of the League of Conservation Voters, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club, and Clean Energy for America. But those weren't much of a surprise, as each group had already backed Biden's reelection bid, and are traditionally loyal to Democratic Party politicians.

The groups endorsing Harris on Wednesday, however, had so far held off on throwing their support behind Biden while he was running for reelection—in part because of the sitting president's mixed record on climate policy.

"It was very much a debate" on whether to endorse Biden, said one of the group's staffers, who spoke on background because the Harris announcement is not yet public. But with Harris, the calculus has changed.

"Because of her work in California and when she was a senator—a lot of us worked with her on creating the Environmental Justice for All Act—it gives us hope," the staffer said. "She's just a different person [than Biden], and has a stronger track record."

"Friends of the Earth Action is excited to endorse Kamala Harris for president of the United States," the group's president, Erich Pica said Wednesday. "We are not going back to an era dominated by fossil fuel interests, corporate greed, and disenfranchisement. Instead, we're looking forward to building a healthy and just future with Vice President Harris."

...

The Green New Deal Network—which also never endorsed Biden—separately threw its support behind Harris on Wednesday.

"What the Green New Deal really is, is understanding that everything's connected," the network's national director, Kaniela Ing, toldInside Climate News. "Making sure our tax dollars aren't just going to kill children abroad, but to build schools and hospitals here at home. … Local control of resources, self-determination of our communities. That's the vision Kamala Harris, given her background—being bused to schools, really being a product of a lot of our social programs—really understands."

One group that has not yet endorsed Harris but has certainly been attentive to both major party tickets is the youth-led Sunrise Movement. The organization warned earlier this month that the Republicans would cause "catastrophic and irreversible damage" to the climate if elected, and some members were arrested for a Monday protest Vance's Senate office on Capitol Hill.

That same day, Sunrise rallied outside of the Democratic National Committee headquarters in Washington, D.C. to urge Harris "to put forward a comprehensive plan on the economy and climate."

Sunrise is also part of a youth-led coalition—Gen-Z for Change, March for Our Lives, and United We Dream Action—that wrote to Harris last week, "This is your chance to energize young people and our communities to vote, mount one of the greatest political comebacks in decades, and deliver a resounding defeat to the far-right agenda of Trump and Vance." READ MORE

Related articles

Harris Grabs Green New Deal Network Endorsement That Eluded Biden (Inside Climate News)
Kamala Nabs Major Endorsement Over Trump: The United Auto Workers has announced its support for Kamala Harris. (The New Republic)

Excerpt from The New Republic: The United Auto Workers announced Wednesday that their union would endorse Kamala Harris for president.

The union’s executive board came to the decision because of “the Biden-Harris administration’s proven track record of standing with the UAW and delivering major gains for the working class,” according to a press release from the union.

...

“Our job in this election is to defeat Donald Trump and elect Kamala Harris to build on her proven track record of delivering for the working class,” said UAW President Shawn Fain in the statement. “We stand at a crossroads in this country. We can put a billionaire back in office who stands against everything our union stands for, or we can elect Kamala Harris who will stand shoulder to shoulder with us in our war on corporate greed.”

Following President Joe Biden’s endorsement of Harris, many unions, including the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), rushed to back Harris. But the UAW held off.

...

“Kamala Harris walked the picket line with striking autoworkers in 2019, has taken on corporate price-gouging and profiteering, and has spoken out and voted against unfair trade deals that hurt the American worker like NAFTA and NAFTA 2.0, the USMCA,” the statement said.

Harris will head to Detroit on August 7 to rally with UAW members and Michigan voters. During that time, she will also meet directly with union members about the issues facing Michigan workers. READ MORE

Excerpt from Inside Climate News: The Green New Deal Network said it sees Harris as bringing to the race a unique record of opposition to Big Oil and an ability to communicate forcefully on environmental justice as a woman of color.

...

The Green New Deal Network is a coalition of about 20 climate groups, among them the Sunrise Movement, the Climate Justice Alliance and Greenpeace. They are groups that support major government investment in solving the climate crisis and addressing historic social injustice “to actually meet the scale and scope that this crisis demands,” Ing (Kaniela Ing, national director of the Green New Deal Network) said.

Last year, the network participated in campaigns that led to passage of Green New Deal-oriented legislation in 13 states, including New York, Delaware and Minnesota. And the network is pushing for federal legislation to invest in a massive green overhaul in U.S. transportation.

...

The Green New Deal Network’s endorsement decision was made by the group’s leadership. At least one member of the network’s steering committee—Sunrise Movement—has not gone so far as to endorse Harris itself. The group’s leaders said an endorsement is not off the table, but Sunrise would have to go through a full membership vote—a process that involves the organization’s more than 100 member hubs across the country.

Sunrise did not officially endorse Biden in 2020, but the group did significant grassroots work to mobilize young voters for Biden and down-ballot Democrats, and Sunrise executive director Aru Shiney-Ajay said Sunrise is committed to mobilizing voters against Trump again this year.

“For us, an endorsement is not just about whether or not we will do electoral work for that candidate … but more about whether that candidate reflects the policies, the vision and the values that we are trying to push in the world,” Shiney-Ajay said. “I just want to be very clear that no matter what, we’re going to be going in to defeat Donald Trump and we’re very excited about that.”

...

Shiney-Ajay also said Harris has an opportunity to win over young peoples’ support by investing in green jobs, expanding clean energy, ending fossil fuel subsidies, and investigating oil and gas companies. The group rallied at the Democratic National Committee’s headquarters in D.C. on Monday to urge Harris to heed their demands. READ MORE