Environmentalists, like most other political and policy observers, are anxiously waiting to see whether President Joe Biden budges on his presidential campaign.
Facing mounting pressure from high-level Democrats to exit the race, Biden is reportedly weighing his options as he and the party consider their best path toward defeating former President Donald Trump in November.
That means interest groups — including environmentalists — are gaming out possible scenarios to prepare for what could soon be a tectonic shift in the presidential election.
“Short term if Biden does drop out, it definitely changes what we were planning post-convention, but without knowing who the candidate will be, it’s hard to deeply scenario plan,” said Erich Pica, president of Friends of the Earth. “This will resolve itself one way or another shortly.”
For the most part, green groups are publicly keeping quiet about the potential for Biden to exit the race. Some groups, including the Sunrise Movement and Climate Defiance, have publicly called on the president to drop his reelection bid.
Major green groups including the Natural Resources Defense Council, Environmental Defense Fund, League of Conservation Voters and Sierra Club did not respond to requests for comment Friday about any scenario planning for a potential Biden dropout.
“I think it feels, probably for most groups, like getting ahead of it is a losing proposition,” said one longtime environmentalist. “If he doesn’t drop out, then we’ve alienated everyone.” That person was granted anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak on behalf of their organization.
That person quoted a scene in the television series “The Wire,” in which a character said, “You can’t lose if you don’t play.”
Environmentalists are also thinking about whether Vice President Kamala Harris would inherit the nomination or whether Democrats would hold an open convention to determine their pick. “Folks are definitely thinking about what to do if and when it happens, in terms of all of that,” that person said.
There’s a “commonly held perspective amongst green groups or at least the ones with any political power or influence” that they “agree with consolidating around Harris,” said a second longtime environmental advocate granted anonymity to discuss private conversations.
At the moment, “no one wants to get caught going out too far,” said a person who works in leadership at a progressive political organization and was also granted anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak on behalf of their organization.
“The progressive groups looking at the events of the last week are starting to see the writing on the wall and are starting to game out what a change to the Democratic ticket could mean for their work,” that person said.
Biden’s campaign chair said Friday that there’s still a path forward for the campaign. “Absolutely the president’s in this race,” Jen O’Malley Dillon said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” as she also acknowledged that the campaign has had a “tough couple of weeks.”