“The Democratic Party needs to reflect, and I have no hope that they ever will. That is why we are shifting my focus to building a strong and mobilized Left from the grassroots,” Joshi added.

Some saw the refusal to take a pro-environment stance as a campaign killer. “With reproductive rights, she didn’t give up. She hasn’t budged an inch,” said Hannah Reid, a climate advocate over 100,000 followers on TikTokwhere she often weighs in on organizational policy and strategy. “With the climate, she gave up and gave in an inch, and that doesn’t make sense.”

The August poll by Data for Progress, released two weeks after Harris entered the race, found that a “strong majority” of voters preferred Harris’ approach to climate policy, wanted to see an administration held accountable oil and gas companies and wanted a Harris Administration that would build on the clean energy progress made under Biden. But by October, climate advocates were sounding the alarm.

Harris presented himself as a contrast to Trump, who he met openly with the oil companies. But while The Harris campaign ran ads against Trump’s climate recordshe failed to offer an alternative view of the climate crisis or to be swayed by pressure from advocates.

At the same time, the campaign was appealing to conservative voters and politicians. “We’re talking about courting neoconservatives who support endless war when the military is one of the biggest drivers of the climate crisis,” said Collin Rees of Oil Change US. The guard. “She is courting members of a party that we know is not serious about climate, even though we are all around us, we see the climate emergency.”

It was a confusing tone to strike as liberals simultaneously fret about the threat of the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, which offers a terrifyingly detailed plan to dismantle every lever of power the federal government has to protect the environment. It was also far from the left-wing pivot of the 2020 Biden campaign after Bernie Sanders was knocked out of the presidential primary, when Biden COMMITTED to a transition away from oil during a debate with Trump.

A former climate adviser to Bill Clinton said THE Tutor in October that avoiding an issue where Harris has substantial differences with Trump “might be the right political decision.” I have now seen that it was wrong, including in Pennsylvania prize-catch swing state this election cycle, where climate experts knew voters wanted stronger climate policy. One Survey 2024 found that 78% of Pennsylvanians “support significantly increasing the use of clean energy.”