Ever since she replaced Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket, Kamala Harris has energized young voters and environmental groups, with her campaign hoping the combination can provide the vice president with a winning margin in November.
For now, the Sunrise Movement is withholding an endorsement even as it ramps up phone-banking, door-knocking and digital ad campaigns in support of Harris, according to a new strategy shared with The Washington Post before its public release Tuesday. The group plans to contact 1.5 million young Americans about voting for Harris, up from a goal of 1 million when Biden was the Democratic nominee, but is awaiting details of Harris’s climate agenda before deciding on an endorsement and next steps.
The group’s strategy reflects the predicament facing Harris as she courts young voters, a key Democratic constituency that helped propel Biden to victory in 2020. If Harris offers more detailed policy proposals on climate change and the Israel-Gaza war, she could shore up support among Gen Z and millennial Americans — but she could alienate more moderate voters in swing states such as Pennsylvania, where her past opposition to fracking has come under scrutiny.
“The difference in excitement between Biden and Harris among young people we’ve been talking to is night and day,” said Stevie O’Hanlon, a spokeswoman for Sunrise.
But, she added, “We are looking to see what her climate platform ultimately is. Our members are eager to see what she puts out because there haven’t been a ton of details. And young people are looking for Harris to talk about the horrifying conditions that millions of people are facing in Gaza and to use her weight to push forcefully for a cease-fire.”
Harris is sure to adopt policies Sunrise would prefer over former president Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, who has yet to articulate a clear vision for combating climate change or ending the war in the Middle East. As president, he weakened or wiped out more than 125 environmental rules and policies, and he oversaw the implementation of hard-line pro-Israel measures.
O’Hanlon said a future endorsement of Harris is “definitely not off the table” if the vice president offers more concrete proposals for limiting planet-warming emissions. So far, Harris has not highlighted the climate or the environment in recent stump speeches, including her nomination acceptance speech on Thursday at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Aru Shiney-Ajay, executive director of Sunrise, said the current lack of an endorsement could help the group reach undecided voters.
“There’s a way to reach people who might be more skeptical of voting for Harris, perhaps people who care about climate and a cease-fire, and the lack of endorsement sometimes helps us convince them and say, ‘Here’s why you need to vote anyway,’” she said.
