West Virginia’s Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin used a conference call with local activists in February to tell them to stop complaining about his pro-corporate voting record.

“What you ought to do is vote me out. Vote me out! I’m not changing. Find somebody else who can beat me and vote me out,” he dared the activists.

Paula Jean Swearengin, an environmental activist descended from generations of coal miners, has accepted that challenge, announcing earlier this month that she will be challenging Manchin for the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate.

She is one of the first candidates endorsed by Brand New Congress, a new effort spawned by former Bernie Sanders staffers who want to recruit both Democrats and Republicans who have never held office before to run for Congress.

Swearengin’s grandfather died of black lung disease and she has had multiple family members who have suffered from illnesses related to working in the coal mines.

That’s an industry Manchin has been allied to since his days as governor. “Governor Manchin gets it!” exclaimed Bill Raney, president of the West Virginia Coal Association, following his election to the Senate in 2010. Since then, Manchin has not disappointed Big Coal. He has fought the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to regulate coal pollution and was one of two Democrats who voted to support President Trump’s appointment of climate denier Scott Pruitt as EPA chief.

In an interview with The Intercept, Swearengin described the impact coal and environmental pollution have had on her own life.

“I was born a coal miner’s daughter, granddaughter,” she explained. But the industry that employed her family also battered its health. “I have watched several of my family members suffer with … cancer, black lung, suffer from heart disease.”

Pollution from coal mining impacted every area of her life. “When I was a little girl, our water was orange with a blue and purple film. And we drank that water,” she lamented.

To Swearengin, West Virginia’s historic dependence on the coal industry has created an impossible choice for the people of the state. “We’ve been bid against each other for basic human rights,” she explained. “There’s no reason that people should have to worry about putting food on the table for their children and clean water. Appalachians are strong. We’re better than that. So my path to primary Joe Manchin is to fight back. Fight back for my community. Fight back for my neighbors, my family, my friends.”

She confronted Manchin over water pollution at a town hall last March, earning applause when she denounced the fossil fuel industry.