Sunrise Movement to Biden: For Planet's Sake—and Your Climate Legacy—Step Aside

The head of a leading U.S. climate action group on Friday joined nearly 20 congressional lawmakers and the growing list of Democratic Party insiders, pundits, and others who are imploring President Joe Biden to step aside and let another Democrat run against former President Donald Trump in November's election.

"For the future of our democracy and our planet, we must defeat Trump this November. If Trump wins, he will demolish President Biden's historic climate achievements, such as the Inflation Reduction Act and American Climate Corps," Sunrise Movement executive director Aru Shiney-Ajay said in a statement. "Another Trump presidency would cause catastrophic and irreversible damage to our climate."

According to Shiney-Ajay:

The Democratic Party must seriously assess whether Joe Biden can successfully convince voters and energize volunteers. After speaking with young people around the country over the last few weeks, I'm concerned that Joe Biden isn't positioned to mobilize young people and win in November.

To be very clear, regardless of who the Democratic candidate is, our plan is the same: to persuade young voters to turn out for the Democratic nominee in order to defeat Trump. With another ticket that energizes young volunteers, we could contact up to twice as many voters this fall.

"To young people: Losing this election could alter the rest of our lives. In order to fight for our generation and our future, we must vote for the Democratic nominee," Shiney-Ajay stressed. "Joe Biden's next climate legacy-defining act must be to pass the torch to a new nominee."

Trump, who has habitually called human-caused climate change a "hoax," filled his administration with officials who were criticized for being inimical to their respective agencies' stated missions. Some of his key appointees—including Rex Tillerson, his first secretary of state, and Ryan Zinke, who headed the Interior Department—were former fossil fuel executives or had track records of supporting the oil, gas, and coal industries.

The debate over Biden's future as the Democratic nominee comes as nearly 20 members of Congress have called on the president to stand down in favor of another candidate, and as poll after poll show him losing to Trump amid a glaring lack of enthusiasm for his candidacy.

"In 2020, Biden was able to energize young people to not only vote, but urge their friends, parents, and neighbors to do the same," said Shiney-Ajay. "We saw that energy at Sunrise, when our volunteers contacted 3.5 million young voters urging them to vote for Biden. Since the debate, already low enthusiasm for Biden has continued to drop."

"The stakes are too high," she added. "We can't afford to ignore the warning signs in front of us."