Ocasio-Cortez and Sanders Join Sold-Out Final Stop of Sunrise Movement's Road to a Green New Deal Tour

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders are among the high-profile advocates for bold climate policy slated to speak Monday night at the sold-out final stop of the Sunrise Movement's nationwide Road to a Green New Deal tour.

The youth-led Sunrise Movement—known for protesting at the offices of key federal lawmakers, from Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell—announced the tour in March, shortly after Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), another speaker at Monday's event, introduced the Green New Deal resolution.

The tour kicked off in Boston last month with a clear goal:

To transform the 2020 election into a referendum on climate action, and give every single American a chance to hear from their leaders and their neighbors about how the Green New Deal will improve their lives.

Monday's tour stop at Howard University in Washington, D.C. is scheduled to start at 7pm local time. Although tickets are no longer available, those interested in watching the livestream can sign up to receive a link on the Sunrise Movement's website here.

Reflecting on the #Road2GND tour, the Sunrise Movement's Victoria Fernandez wrote in a email to supporters Saturday:

The past month has been unprecedented. In big cities and small towns and in red states and blue, tens of thousands have come together for the largest wave of action in our movement’s history. Thousands of new people have joined Sunrise's ranks and shared how the Green New Deal would improve life for all of us.

Now, we're set up to make seismic impact on the presidential primary. As the campaign ramps up, we need to ensure that every candidate is feeling the heat from our movement, making it undeniable that any candidate who wants our support must put the Green New Deal and climate change front and center of their campaign.

Sanders, a 2020 presidential candidate, is an original co-sponsor of the Green New Deal resolution, which is now backed by more than 100 members of Congress. In a Sunday tweet promoting the tour stop, the senator wrote: "Making certain that future generations have a planet that is healthy and habitable is a moral imperative."

Other speakers include Varshini Prakash, co-founder and executive director of the Sunrise Movement; Judith Howell of SEIU 32BJ; Payton Wilkins of Historically Black College and Universities Climate Consortium; Alexandra Rojas of Justice Democrats; Rhiana Gunn-Wright of New Consensus; local environmental justice organizer Jeremiah Lowery; and author and activist Naomi Klein.