Several climate protestors disrupted the Democratic National Committee‘s final chair candidate forum on Thursday, demanding answers from the candidates on the stage regarding donations from billionaires and climate-related topics.
At least one interruption came from a young woman wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the Sunrise Movement name, the climate group that has been led by young activists.
The woman was escorted out of the event as were several other protesters. At least one person shouted, “Peace out, b*****s” as they were led out, and another Sunrise-affiliated person asked the candidates, “Do you work for billionaires or for people like me?”
Another protester shouted toward the candidates to “stop taking oil money” as they were led out of the event. It appeared that roughly 12 protesters were removed.
Democrats are set to elect a new chair on Saturday, but before the election, the DNC partnered with MSNBC to host the last candidate forum at Georgetown University.
A frustrated Symone Sanders repeatedly chastised the protesters who prevented her from asking the candidates onstage questions about what they would do as the next chair.
“We will not be able to get through this evening if you all continue to interrupt, and we are running out of time in this forum again,” Sanders pleaded.
MSNBC host Jen Psaki, who also faced disruptions from audience members, later posed the question to the candidates about whether they would accept money from billionaire donors as well as oil and gas companies in an attempt to address the protester’s concerns.
At least four candidates, including Wikler and Martin, declined to raise their hands when Psaki asked if they would support a ban on corporate PAC money.
“We will not take money from corporations that are polluting our planet. We will only take money from people who share our values,” Martin said in a passionate speech defending his stance.
When Psaki asked the panel to raise their hands if they would accept donations from oil and gas companies, no one did so. Instead, Wikler used the moment to excoriate Trump’s relationships with wealthy donors.
“We’re in a moment when our country is spinning out into oligarchy. The richest people in the world are part of the Trump administration trying to shred the way our government works,” he said. “Handoff chunks to the ultra-wealthy and rig our system against everyone else. And to fight back. We need all the help we can get. We need to work with the union movement. We need to work with small donors.”
Jason Paul lamented the Sunrise protests, expressing frustration with the protesters for turning the event into a “scream night.”
“I read the Sunrise pledge. I’m a little bit frustrated that they then decided to turn this into scream night at the DNC forum,” said Paul. “But I signed the pledge because we don’t take very much corporate money … so turning it down is a symbol.”
Before the disruptions began, the candidate forum began with the candidates ready to attack President Donald Trump.
“As we grieve the horrible crash yesterday, as we reel with shock at the horrors that Trump is visiting on communities across this country, we need a DNC and a DNC chair who is ready to bring the intensity, the focus, and the fury to fight back when our country is reeling and waiting for leadership,” said Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Ben Wikler, one of the front-runners of the race.
Wikler was referencing Trump’s press conference earlier on Thursday in which he blamed former Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama, as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, for the deadly crash between a civilian airliner and a military helicopter at Ronald Reagan National Airport on Wednesday night.
Wikler recently gained the endorsement of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), who continues to exert influence over fellow party members.
He faces top competition from Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party leader Ken Martin, who also slammed Trump.
“But it shouldn’t surprise any of us, of course, that the president today decided to inject politics into that saying, of course, this was a fault of President Biden, President Obama, the air traffic controllers, and DEI of all things,” said Martin.
Democrats have struggled to regroup after Trump defeated Vice President Kamala Harris last November and won all seven battleground states.
National party members were slow to respond to Trump’s multiple executive orders on immigration, gender, and climate change to the frustration of the base and even the DNC chair candidates.
Long-shot candidate Marianne Williamson bluntly said, “The Democratic brand is basically in the toilet.”
“And if I’m your chair, I’m going to be very honest. And if we’re going to be very honest, we have to look in the mirror and we have to stop some of our hypocrisy,” she warned.
But the issuing and quick rescinding of a memo freezing federal grants and loans reignited the base in uniting to oppose the president, as well as Trump’s attacks on DEI programs.
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“At this moment, the DNC needs to be on a war plan,” said Faiz Shakir, a former campaign manager for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and another long-shot candidate. “Donald Trump campaigned as a populist. He’s governing like an oligarch doling out special favors to billionaires who want to kiss his ring.”
The next chair of the DNC will need to win a majority of the 448 DNC members to secure victory. If a majority is not secured in the first round, multiple rounds of voting will continue until a candidate wins the majority.
