Sunrise Movement protesters gather near Vice President Kamala Harris’ Brentwood home calling on her to urge President Joe Biden to declare a climate emergency. Simon Aron, left, and Josiah Edwards, center, lead a chant.
Robert Gauthier | Los Angeles Times | Getty Images
The Sunrise Movement, a major youth climate group that strongly supported President Joe Biden in the 2020 election, urged him on Friday to exit the 2024 race against former President Donald Trump.
“The stakes are too high. We can’t afford to ignore the warning signs in front of us,” Sunrise Movement Executive Director Aru Shiney-Ajay said in a statement.
“Joe Biden’s next climate legacy-defining act must be to pass the torch to a new nominee,” Shiney-Ajay said.
Her call for Biden to step aside came a day after the president gave a news conference in which he said he was determined to remain in the race, and as the number of Democratic members of Congress who want him to quit grew to nearly 20. As of Friday morning, 18 House Democrats and one Democratic senator have publicly called on Biden to drop out of the race as the Democratic presidential nominee.
“For the future of our democracy and our planet, we must defeat Trump this November,” Shiney-Ajay said.
“If Trump wins, he will demolish President Biden’s historic climate achievements, such as the Inflation Reduction Act and American Climate Corps. Another Trump Presidency would cause catastrophic and irreversible damage to our climate,” she added.
Shiney-Ajay noted that volunteers at the Sunrise Movement in 2020 contacted 3.5 million youth voters, urging them to vote for Biden against Trump.
She said that “to be very clear,” the group plans to persuade young votes to support the Democratic nominee, whoever that ends up being.
“With another ticket that energizes young volunteers, we could contact up to twice as many voters this fall,” Shiney-Ajay said.
This is developing news. Please check back for updates.