'Scream night': Climate activists repeatedly disrupt DNC leadership meeting

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Environmental groups appear to be breaking with the Democratic Party after protesters disrupted a recent leadership meeting, which comes as the party attempts to regain its footing after suffering defeat in the 2024 presidential election.

The Democratic National Committee (DNC) held a candidate forum on Thursday evening in Washington, D.C., ahead of their upcoming election to determine who will lead the campaign arm into the next election cycle. 

While the event was intended to showcase some of the party's potential new faces, it was interrupted by several protesters, including climate activists from the Sunrise Movement, a youth-led, left-wing climate action organization, who demanded the DNC establish a working election strategy for the party after the 2024 loss.

"What will you do to get fossil fuel money out of Democratic politics? We are facing a climate emergency!" Fox News Digital heard one protester shout.

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Hecklers are seen being removed by Georgetown University security at the DNC chair election debate at Georgetown University on Jan. 30 2025. (Fox News Digital/Paul Steinhauser)

Other protesters made calls for the DNC chair candidates to bring back the party's ban on corporate PAC and lobbyist donations.

"To defeat Trump, the Democratic Party needs to loudly and proudly take a stand against billionaires and show voters that Democrats are the only party ready to fight for working people," Adah, an activist from the Sunrise Movement who made an interruption, said in a statement issued by Sunrise.

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"That’s how we will win back young voters and working class voters and defeat Trump," Adah added.

Nominees for the DNC chair position at the DNC chair debate at Georgetown University on Jan. 30 2025. (Fox News Digital/Paul Steinhauser)

About a dozen protesters interrupted and were kicked out of the event — the final meeting ahead of Saturday's DNC election. 

The Democratic candidates and moderates grew frustrated with the protesters who were interrupting the event. 

Jason Paul, a candidate running for DNC chair, said the protesters were "hijack[ing] the whole evening" and turning the event "into scream night."

The eight candidates vying for Democratic National Committee chair sit for a forum that was repeatedly interrupted by protesters, at Georgetown University in Washington D.C., on Jan. 30, 2025. (Fox News - Paul Steinhauser)

"I’m surprised I haven’t seen more of it," former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley told reporters after the event. "They’re going to be on this planet a lot longer than I am, and if they stop caring passionately about the planet, then we have no hope at all. So it didn’t bother me."

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Eight candidates are running to serve as chair of the DNC next cycle, including O'Malley, Wisconsin chair Ben Wikler, Minnesota chair Ken Martin, and former two-time Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson.

The DNC chair election will be held Saturday.