Background and Purpose

Sunrise was founded in the summer of 2017 to create a political home for young people in the United States who are scared about what climate change meant for our future. A big part of what brought the founding team together was watching the 2016 Presidential election play out and seeing the young people in the grassroots climate justice movement not having an organized way to harness independent political power to engage meaningfully in the election. As we looked towards the 2020 Presidential election, we knew we wanted to enable our movement to have a full range of options for what our engagement in the Presidential election could look like. Already, alongside others in the climate movement, we’ve had a dramatic impact on the Presidential race by: getting nearly every major candidate to sign the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge, making climate action a top priority in the Presidential primary for the first time, spurring first-of-their-kind historic Presidential Climate Crisis Forums, forcing every candidate to lay out comprehensive climate plans, and having almost every candidate either endorse the sweeping vision of the Green New Deal or frame their plans around it.

The stakes of this election are too damn high to leave any options for how our movement might engage off the table. We’ve committed multiple times throughout the year to enabling a process that would allow our movement to decide whether we wanted to endorse a candidate for President in the 2020 election. This is that process.

It also must be said that our movement has been clear since it’s launch that the defeat of President Trump in 2020 is an absolute necessity towards having a shot of the federal government taking any degree of action on the climate crisis, and any degree of action on the climate crisis means millions more lives saved. If we do endorse a candidate for President and that candidate does not win the nomination, we will unite behind the nominee and be steadfast in advocating for the defeat of President Trump and his fossil fuel cronies at the ballot box in November.

At all times, our movement is laser focused on building both people power and political power to stop the climate crisis and create millions of good jobs in the process. This endorsement process is set up to allow the members of our movement to democratically deliberate on whether a Presidential endorsement in the 2020 cycle will help us to achieve those goals, and put us in the best possible position to create a political mandate for enacting a Green New Deal in 2020, 2021 and beyond.

We are evaluating all major Presidential candidates who signed the No Fossil Fuel Money Pledge and have released a climate plan as of 11/25.

Outcomes

The Sunrise Movement 2020 Presidential Endorsement process will allow the members of our movement to engage in collective education, discussion, and deliberative democracy to determine:

Whether or not Sunrise Movement should endorse a candidate for President of the United States in 2020, and If so, who that candidate should be.

Process

Overview

On the week of November 25th, 2019 Sunrise Movement will launch our movement-wide Presidential endorsement process for the 2020 cycle that will run through the end of the year.

The process will enable the movement to collectively 1) deliberate on our overall orientation to the 2020 race and the candidates running in it and 2) if we decide to, endorse a candidate for president.

There are 3 main phases of the endorsement process:

Phase 1: Education

Phase 2: Discussion

Phase 3: Voting

Components of each phase

Phase 1: Education, Weeks 1–3

National Political team provides overall context, framing of endorsement process, and shares educational materials

Movement begins discussion for/against endorsement via an online Collective Education Forum

Phase 2: Discussion, Weeks 3–4

In-person hub meetings around the country to review education materials and discuss the decision about whether or not to endorsement collectively in community

National discussion via regular state of the movement call

Phase 3: Voting, Weeks 5–6

Voting!

Phase 4: Results

Release results of endorsement process in January

Voting

How?

Voting will take place at the end of the year from 12/23–12/31. Sunrise Movement members will vote online in response to two questions:

Should Sunrise Movement endorse a candidate for President of the United States? (Y/N)

Please indicate your preferred candidate for Sunrise Movement’s presidential endorsement: (Multiple choice)

Because we want our Presidential endorsement to be something that grows the movement, not fractures it, we are requiring 2/3rds approval (66%) for an endorsement to occur. If that threshold is reached, we will tally the results of the vote and endorse the candidate that wins 50%+1.

Unity in the movement is of the utmost importance. A fractured movement as the result of a Presidential endorsement process diminishes our ability to have the political impact we need to win a Green New Deal in the long run, more than a Sunrise Movement Presidential candidate endorsement actually changes the overall dynamics of the 2020 Presidential race. The movement is more important than any one candidate. This means:

If less than 66% of members vote for Presidential endorsement of any candidate, we will not endorse a Presidential candidate at this time.

If there is less than 50%+1 support for a specific candidate, we will not endorse a Presidential candidate at this time.

If the vote results in a “no-endorsement” because either vote threshold is not cleared, we will not endorse in January of 2020. However, the national Political Team may call up a vote again in February or March should we determine that political dynamics in the Presidential race merit re-visiting the decision.

We will publish transparently the full results of the vote after they occur, no matter the results.

Who?

Bottom line: One member, one vote!

For the purpose of this process, you are a member of Sunrise Movement if you meet any of the following conditions or categories:

You are a member of a local hub or strike circle

You hold a national support role in the movement as either a staff or volunteer. If you are staff, you must have participated in a training, hub meeting, or action in order to be able to vote.

Our online records indicate that you have participated in a Sunrise action, event, summit, or training (in-person or online) since our launch

We are asking people to self-identify — using the above qualifications — about whether you are a member of Sunrise Movement or not, and we will ask people to indicate what their participation in the movement has been as they vote. For this endorsement to be meaningful and powerful, it is very important that this vote be representative of the actual membership and leadership of Sunrise Movement. If we endorse a candidate, we hope that it can be an authentic representation of our movement. With that in mind, there is no lower age limit to who may participate, but we are asking people to abide by our Young At Heart guidelines if you are ~35 years or older and thinking about whether or not you should participate in this vote.

We are aiming for a minimum threshold of 2,500 members participating in the vote.