Climate activists swarm Joe Manchin at diner, jump in front of SUV: ‘We shut him down so hard’

Members of the far-left climate protest organization Climate Defiance confronted Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., at a diner in New Hampshire on Tuesday, chanting slogans about ending fossil fuel reliance.

The group – which was founded in Washington, D.C., last year and is known to forcefully disrupt events to confront politicians over climate policy – said its actions at the diner in Derry, New Hampshire, forced Manchin to flee the restaurant through the kitchen. Video posted by Climate Defiance showed its members yelling at the Democratic senator and one activist appearing to jump in front of Manchin’s vehicle.

“Big update. Big, big update. We just found Joe Manchin yet again, in a diner,” Climate Defiance said in an X post Tuesday. “We swarmed it. We took it over. We seized control. We shut him down so hard he had to flee through the kitchen. We will not walk like sheep to slaughter. We will not stand down. Respect us or expect us.”

“The single-largest recipient of oil and gas money, Manchin blowtorches our planet and gloats,” the group added. “He chairs the Senate Energy Committee, and uses this role to protect his personal coal company. He earns more income from this coal company than he does from his senate salary. It shows.”

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According to Climate Defiance’s video, Manchin was delivering remarks to a small crowd at the diner when its members began chanting anti-fossil fuels slogans. Manchin’s comment stating that border security was his “greatest concern,” appeared to particularly spark the activists’ chants.

“Off fossil fuels, Manchin, off fossil fuels,” they said repeatedly.

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Manchin appeared to smile while the protesters were held back and pushed away by police officers. 

Then, as the SUV carrying Manchin sped away from the diner, one of the activists appeared to jump in front of the moving vehicle with a sign calling for the end of fossil fuel dependence.

Climate activists have for years opposed Sen. Joe Manchin, who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, over his policies supporting fossil fuel development. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)

“We are explicitly and unapologetically committed to making life MISERABLE for every person in power who stands between us and the solutions we so desperately need,” Climate Defiance added in a post.

The group’s actions come days after its activists surrounded Manchin after he addressed the New Hampshire Institute of Politics’ “Politics & Eggs” forum, which is often attended by presidential candidates.

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In recent weeks, Climate Defiance has publicly called for volunteers to join its protest to “shut down” Manchin’s events in New Hampshire. The group said it sought to disrupt the events over Manchin’s long-standing support for fossil fuels, pointing to his actions pushing the Mountain Valley Pipeline natural gas project and personally owning a coal company.

The protests also come shortly after the group was granted a White House meeting last month. Climate Defiance leaders met privately with senior White House adviser John Podesta on Dec. 15. Following the meeting, the group publicized a letter it handed Podesta in which they thanked him and reiterated that global warming is the “greatest threat that humanity has ever faced.”