A radical climate protest group called Climate Defiance endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday, citing their belief that she will be able to be pressured on energy policy.
The activist group initially held back its endorsement of Harris, appearing to condition its support on her acceptance of a list of demands that included a complete moratorium on new oil and gas projects and a ban on new fossil fuel leasing on federal lands and waters. After meeting with a top Harris adviser earlier in September, Climate Defiance — which once targeted Harris with one of its signature disruptive protests in 2023 — is now backing her candidacy because she “is the leader we can pressure and move” on key energy policies, the group announced in a Wednesday social media post.
“Climate Defiance is endorsing Kamala Harris for President of the United States,” the group wrote in a post to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Harris is not the visionary we need, but she is the leader we can pressure and move. A Trump Presidency would be a full-fledged disaster for our climate & our water & our lands. Trump would gut the [Environmental Protection Agency], tearing down regulations on cars and power plants and farms. He would sell out our sacred public spaces to his billionaire cronies. This is a nonstarter.”
MAJOR UPDATE: Climate Defiance is endorsing Kamala Harris for President of the United States.
Harris is not the visionary we need, but she is the leader we can pressure and move. (1/12)
— Climate Defiance (@ClimateDefiance) September 25, 2024
The disruptive activism outfit, which often interrupts speeches and prominent events to protest against fossil fuels, joins a list of hardline eco-activism groups that are lining up to support Harris despite her pivot away from unequivocally supporting a fracking ban. Climate Defiance figures that Harris is a “finger-to-the-wind politician” who can be pressured into taking stances she may not initially want to take.
Climate Defiance “vehemently” opposes Harris’ recent about-face on the issue of fracking, which she formerly wanted to ban, and also the Biden-Harris administration’s policy of continuing arms shipments to Israel as it fights against terrorist groups in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. However, the group is so strongly repulsed by former President Donald Trump — who it claims is “beholden to racists, rapists, fascists, and billionaires” — that it is throwing its weight behind Harris.
Climate Defiance is one of numerous similarly-styled environmental protest groups that receives funding from the Climate Emergency Fund (CEF), a U.S.-based nonprofit that receives funds from many prominent and wealthy American liberals. CEF donors include Hollywood writer Adam McKay and actor Jeremy Strong, according to the organization’s 2023 annual report.
Neither the Harris campaign nor Climate Defiance responded immediately to requests for comment.
(Featured Image Media Credit: Screen Capture/CSPAN)
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