Public Resource
Campaign Lessons from the Fight for the Green New Deal
PowerLabs and Dyanna Jaye
The Sunrise Movement paired the big, inspiring demand of the Green New Deal with specific instrumental campaigns to move forward over a long campaign arc. Sunrise took action in opportune moments to bring attention and grow support for the GND cause. This exclusive PowerLabs webinar with Dyanna Jaye, a co-founder of Sunrise Movement, covers Sunrise’s campaign for a Green New Deal from its launch in 2018 through the 2020 General Elections, with special focus on the planning and analysis that informed action. Campaigns are a sequence of activities that build towards a shared goal. Good campaigns feel empowering, have a clear strategy, and welcome the agency and creativity of people to participate. Good campaigns transform what is possible in our societies. Before the 2018 midterm elections, climate change ranked low in priorities for the Democratic Party, and any plans the party may have had were wildly insufficient to measure up to the scale of the crisis we face. Sunrise Movement and newly elected Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez launched the Green New Deal in late 2018. The movement maintained a popular campaign behind the demand through the 2020 General Election that mobilized an army of young people, transformed the conversation on climate policy, and made the crisis a top and unavoidable political issue.