Winning the Green New Deal: Sunrise and the Fight for Congress
All eyes are on the presidential race this year, and while we cannot accomplish our ultimate goals without an ally in the White House, don’t let Trump distract you from the tireless fight for justice down the ballot as well. We are working for an overhaul of the system, and that does not end with a Democratic president — that’s how it begins. Sunrise is determined to build political power for the Green New Deal by electing and defending progressive candidates in Congress. Trump is a large piece of a much larger problem that Sunrise is determined to help solve.
Where We Are:
I want to start by recapping what this year has been like in my home here in Colorado. Here, 2020 is the year of the climate crisis, as the largest wildfires in state history have changed Colorado forever. Throughout the West, 2020 is the year of dangerous air and devastation.
We are suffocated by five wildfires coming from every direction. Thousands of people have lost their homes to the flames, been evacuated with nowhere to go, and all of us are suffering from migraines and sore throats from this ashy air we have been breathing in for months. All this happening during a pandemic makes it abundantly clear that not only is our government currently unprepared for future climate devastation, but they are also presently unwilling to support the most vulnerable communities with effective aid. If you are one of the thousands of families who rely on your land to feed you, who have loans on a property that is now up in flames, who have no support system, no savings, and were already struggling during an economic crisis, what do you do? What do you do when your government tells you that your life isn’t a priority to protect?
The stakes of this election are so high, but not just because we need to defeat Donald Trump and his Republican enablers, but because we MUST elect leadership that will push Joe Biden to enact the Green New Deal and save our communities. That’s why Sunrise is organizing for so many progressives from Virginia to California, Texas to Michigan. Because even amidst a pandemic and the chaos of an election to defeat a fascist movement, we can still see a light at the end of the tunnel, leading us towards an equitable society.
We can create a system that dismantles the pillars of white supremacy, creates good jobs with livable wages for everyone, and fights the climate crisis at the scale it demands. The stakes have never been higher, and our determination has never been more tenacious. 2020 is the year that Sunrise cemented our movement as a straight up political powerhouse, dramatically influencing the Senate race in Massachusetts. We are helping to double the squad with champions like Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush, while defending powerful leaders like AOC, Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, and Ed Markey! Now we are ready to win some more in every corner of the country with champions like Audrey Denney in California, Mike Siegel in Texas, and more! For our current candidates, we’ve made over half a million dials in the last month and a half!!! But with 2 weeks to go, it’s time to make 500,000 more dials! Sign up to phonebank with us here→ smvmt.org/gotvforce
In a year where the problems of our society are staring each of us in the face, our movement has risen to the moment. We allied with progressive champions who fight for a livable future. Who will address systemic racism with real solutions that end the suffering of Black and Brown Americans, who know that there is a world where everyone can afford college, where everyone can have access to affordable healthcare, where no one’s neighborhood gets poisoned by fossil fuel executives. Who believe that going back to “normal” still leaves millions of people in turmoil. That is why in these final days before the election we are giving it our all to defeat Trump and elect Green New Deal candidates across the country!
Here is our Strategy for 2020 and the Plan for the Future:
Sunrise is hyper-focused on 19 races (3 Senate, 16 House) for the General Election, that is huge! The effort and time we put into these races is what makes our movement unique and powerful. We are the value brought to this moment, as young people across the country who have reached a breaking point, and are now determined to elect representatives who prioritize our lives and our futures. This is how we win.
So many communities throughout this country are used to a life of struggle and anxiety. We each have a story, a moment when everyone in our state has felt a familiar pain caused by climate disaster, by economic inequality, by discrimination — that’s when we say enough — and begin to move society in a more just direction. I feel that energy here in my home and I know in Audrey Denney’s district in California and Beth Doglio’s in Washington, they feel it too.
These races will not only turn a district from Red to Blue, but Red to Green New Deal. There are champions in every corner of the country who are fighting for our homes and laying the stage for how our communities can transform. Our movement is with them every step of the way to make calls to voters, to holding their opponents accountable for their corruption, and telling the story of what fighting for justice and bold change will truly mean in 2021 and beyond.
Our strategy is to compete in Blue states, Red states and everything in between, to prove that people from all walks of life are ready for the Green New Deal. We know we won’t win every race, but that isn’t always the point. Like AOC says, “for one of us to win, 100 of us have to run.” We win as many as we can and wherever we don’t, we still fight hard to prove to those communities that there are candidates who are fighting for farmers, union workers, low income families, and working class people. No matter the results of a race, if Sunrise is there, we advance our popular agenda, build a greater community, and organize for the next opportunity to fight for our homes and win.
Join us today and help us prepare to fight for the Green New Deal in 2021 → Smvmt.org/gotvforce
