Working-class climate protesters arrested at J.D. Vance's Senate office

Eight of about 150 climate campaigners with the youth-led Sunrise Movement were arrested at a Monday protest at the U.S. Capitol office of Sen. J.D. Vance, the Ohio Republican chosen as former President Donald Trump's running mate.

"I was willing to get arrested today because my future and our country shouldn't be for sale. J.D. Vance is willing to sell our futures to the highest bidder," said 21-year-old Takeira Bell in a statement. "He will kill green jobs, give tax breaks to billionaires, and deny that there is a climate crisis just to keep the campaign contributions flowing. Today, we showed up to tell him, 'We won't let you sell out our families to the highest bidder.'"

Carly Bryant, an 18-year-old protester, said that "as a young person who grew up in Montana, I am deeply passionate about pursuing a career in wildland firefighting so I can actively serve my community and ecosystems. To hear that JD Vance wants to cut green jobs like these that are already underfunded is a direct attack on working-class frontline workers and an insult to my generation."

The Hill reported that "Capitol Police spokesperson Brianna Burch said the eight arrests were for violating laws against demonstrating inside Congressional office buildings."

Vance is a former venture capitalist who authored the memoir-turned-movie Hillbilly Elegy before entering politics in 2022. The first-term senator postures as a working-class ally, but many critics aren't buying it—including the young people who risked arrest on Monday.

Sunrise has been sounding the alarm about Vance since he was announced as Trump's vice presidential candidate at the recent Republican National Convention, where Trump highlighted the energy plans included in the Republican Party's latest platform: "Drill, baby, drill."

"J.D. Vance says he is a champion of the working class. In practice, he's a champion of whoever wrote him the biggest check," said Sunrise executive director Aru Shiney-Ajay, whose group has highlighted that during Vance's 2022 Senate campaign, he took nearly $300,000 from oil and gas-linked political action committees and donors.

"He used to talk about how we were facing a climate crisis," Shiney-Ajay noted. "Then oil and gas donors and Donald Trump offered him hundreds of thousands of dollars and a chance to be vice president, and he totally changed his tune. Who knows what JD Vance will support the next time a billionaire comes knocking."

The protesters in Washington, D.C. held signs declaring that Vance is owned by Big Oil and Billionaires. Some said, "Vance: Stop Killing Green Jobs," a reference to his plans to dismantle policies like the Inflation Reduction Act, a federal law signed by President Joe Biden that provided $500 million to upgrade a steel plant in Middleton, Ohio, Vance's hometown.

The protest at Vance's Capitol Hill office wasn't Sunrise's only D.C. demonstration of the day; members of the group also rallied outside of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) headquarters to urge Vice President Kamala Harris, the party's presumptive nominee, "to put forward a comprehensive plan on the economy and climate."

While some climate groups have already expressed their support for Harris since Biden dropped out and endorsed her earlier this month, Sunrise has targeted both top Democrats throughout the year, urging them to embrace more ambitious climate policies.

"VP Harris has the opportunity to put forward a bold climate plan that mobilizes young voters and faces the scale of the climate crisis," Sunrise communications director Stevie O'Hanlon said Monday. "Polls show that climate is where voters trust Harris most over Trump. Making climate core to her campaign is not only the right thing to do for the planet, but it's a good political strategy."

At the DNC rally, demonstrators carried banners that said, "15 years left to stop the climate crisis," "It's too damn hot," and "Harris: Fight for young people," echoing the takeaway from a letter than Sunrise and three other youth-led groups sent to the vice president last week.

"I'm from Oregon, where every summer now, wildfires fill our air with smoke and burn down peoples' homes. Every year I see it getting worse. I want a future in the place I love and call home," said Adah Crandall. "I'm here because young people need politicians to boldly confront the climate crisis."

"If Kamala Harris wants to be taken seriously by Gen Z, she needs to show us she's serious about protecting our futures," the 18-year-old added. "That means campaigning on investing in green schools and housing, protecting our air and water from polluters, and rapidly building an affordable and renewable energy system."