President Joe Biden’s supporters cheered his record on climate change and energy Sunday as he announced he wouldn’t seek another term in office.
Many of those supporters are now throwing their weight behind Vice President Kamala Harris or at least touting her strengths as a potential Democratic presidential nominee.
In his one term in office, Biden, 81, shepherded through Congress the Inflation Reduction Act, the largest single climate law in history, with an estimated $369 billion in clean energy and climate spending.
He also finalized numerous regulations to cut greenhouse gas pollution from cars, power plants, oil and natural gas drilling, and more.
Biden made the call after weeks of pressure from a growing group of Democrats, including many prominent climate advocates and a handful of environmental organizations. It’s the first time in decades that an incumbent president has decided not to run for reelection.
And although most major mainstream climate groups stood behind Biden, they nonetheless welcomed his decision to drop out of the race.
“We are forever grateful to President Biden, the most pro-environment, pro-climate president ever and by far. The Biden-Harris administration has taken more than 300 actions to date to protect clean air and water, advance a just transition to a clean energy economy, address environmental injustice, and protect our public lands and waters,” Gene Karpinski, president of the League of Conservation Voters, said in a statement.
“President Joe Biden has done more to fight the climate crisis and secure a livable future for the American people than any other president in our nation’s history,” said Lena Moffitt, executive director of Evergreen Action.
“We are immensely grateful for his leadership and look forward to working with him through the end of this term to further cement his already extraordinary climate legacy,” she said.
Many congressional Democrats similarly welcomed Biden’s choice and thanked him for his work.
“It’s not an overstatement to say Joe Biden has been and is the most consequential president of our lifetimes. His legislative accomplishments speak for themselves and will endure for generations to come,” Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said, adding that Biden, among other actions, “took the biggest climate action in human history.”
Biden didn’t please all climate advocates, and some had refused to endorse him for reelection, saying he hadn’t gone far enough to stop fossil fuels. Those groups nonetheless thanked the president.
“We commend him for taking that step to protect his climate achievements and our democracy,” said the Sunrise Movement, which had asked Biden to step aside.
Biden’s Cabinet members also thanked him.
“I’ve never been prouder to work for this President. From prioritizing disadvantaged communities to investing in a clean energy future, he has delivered on the most ambitious climate and environmental justice agenda in United States history — and we’re not stopping now,” EPA Administrator Michael Regan wrote on social media platform X.
Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said, “Serving in [Biden]’s cabinet has been the honor of my lifetime. What we have achieved under his leadership is transformational and historic. I am committed to seeing through his vision for America.”
Biden plans to serve out the remainder of his term, which ends Jan. 20. Some Republicans, however, have called on him to resign before that.
“If Joe Biden is not fit to run for president, he is not fit to serve as president. He must resign the office immediately,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) said she would introduce a resolution in the House to encourage Biden’s Cabinet to start the process of removing him from office under the Constitution’s 25th Amendment, which could happen with a majority vote of the Cabinet.
Backing Harris?
Biden formally endorsed Harris, and the vice president soon after said she’d seek the Democratic nomination to run against former President Donald Trump.
“I will do everything in my power to unite the Democratic Party — and unite our nation — to defeat Donald Trump and his extreme Project 2025 agenda,” Harris said in a statement, referring to the policy playbook written by conservatives for Trump to carry out, which Trump has sought to distance himself from.
Her ascendance to being the Democratic nominee is not guaranteed, but no other major candidates have announced their intent to run.
The Democratic National Committee will gather for its convention next month to pick a nominee and said it would meet in the coming days to plan its next steps.
Harris, a former senator and attorney general of California, has a more progressive climate change record than Biden. In her own unsuccessful 2020 presidential campaign, she endorsed a nationwide ban on fracking and the Green New Deal, and said she’d be willing to suspend the Senate filibuster.
But her work as president is likely to look more like another Biden term. “A Harris White House might not immediately deviate from the current Biden-Harris energy policy trajectory, but we would anticipate a push for greater green ambition than the current Administration has already laid out for its second term,” advisory firm ClearView Energy Partners told its clients in a note earlier this month.
‘Would kick ass’
Harris quickly started to rack up endorsements and other messages of support Sunday from Democrats and their allies.
“Vice President Harris would kick ass against Trump,” said Gina McCarthy, Biden’s former chief climate adviser. “She has spent her whole life committed to justice, fighting for the underdog and making sure that no one is above the law. She will fight every day for all Americans to have access to clean air, clean water and a healthy environment.”
Evergreen Action endorsed Harris too. “Vice President Harris has been integral to the Biden administration’s most important climate accomplishments and has a long track record as an impactful climate champion,” Evergreen’s Moffitt said in a statement.
“From establishing one of the first environmental justice units in the country when she was the district attorney of San Francisco, to taking on Big Oil in the courts as California Attorney General, to introducing visionary legislation including the Climate Equity Act and Clean School Bus Act in the Senate, Vice President Harris has fought to hold polluters accountable and deliver for the hardest-hit communities her entire career,” Moffitt added.
Other groups praised Harris but did not issue an endorsement.
Harris has not announced who her vice presidential running mate would be if she wins the nomination. But potential names include Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly.
“I couldn’t be more confident that Vice President @KamalaHarris is the right person to defeat Donald Trump and lead our country into the future,” Kelly wrote on X.
Numerous environmental groups POLITICO’s E&E News asked about potential running mates did not respond or did not pick favorites. Some possible candidates are much more moderate than Biden and Harris on climate and the environment.
Sen. Joe Manchin (I-W.Va.), chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, is considering rejoining the Democratic Party and throwing his hat in the ring, POLITICO and several other outlets reported.
Reporter Kevin Bogardus contributed.
This story also appears in E&E Daily.
