Vice President Kamala Harris’ longtime climate adviser is a 37-year-old Colorado native who has a Ph.D. in marine science, a penchant for electric buses and a miniature poodle named Newton who’s a member of the KHive.
Ike Irby, a consultant and senior campaign adviser to Harris, started on her Senate staff as a fellow back in 2017. He moved to the White House with Harris in January 2021 as a top climate adviser. Irby left his White House gig early this year, but he remains an influential player in Harris’ orbit and could become an even more prominent voice shaping climate policy if the vice president wins her White House bid in 2024.
“Ike is widely known and quite respected,” said Tiernan Sittenfeld, senior vice president for government affairs at the League of Conservation Voters. “We think he’s been very influential and we’re looking forward to him working with Vice President Harris when she becomes president to make lots more progress for climate, jobs and justice.”
He first landed in Harris’ Capitol Hill office in 2017 as a science and technology policy fellow and stayed on as a policy adviser to the California senator.
Irby was on Harris’ team when she rolled out major environmental justice legislation in the summer of 2020. That included a broad environmental justice bill she introduced that summer with Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) and another bill with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) to overhaul how the federal government tackles environmental justice.
“Two powerhouse leaders team up to ensure that we build a justice and equity-centered future as we tackle the climate crisis,” Irby wrote on his personal social media account at the time.
Alexandra Adams, who leads the government affairs team at the Natural Resources Defense Council, has worked with Irby going back to his time in Harris’ Senate office.
“Ike is a scientist by training, even though he’s really an expert policy adviser and tactician,” Adams said. “He fundamentally understands all the forces at play in the climate fight that we’re facing.”
Irby earned a Ph.D. in marine science from William & Mary’s School of Marine Science at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. His 2017 dissertation looks at the impacts of climate change on water quality in the Chesapeake Bay.
Hitting Trump on climate
Irby regularly criticized then-President Donald Trump’s climate policies during the 2020 presidential election.
After Trump dismissed the impacts of climate change during a 2020 briefing on California’s wildfires, Irby slammed Trump’s comment to a state official that “It’ll just start getting cooler, you just watch.”
On his personal social media account, Irby wrote, it’s “easy to laugh at this but the President’s complete denial and disregard of science is deadly. From climate change to COVID, he is actively endangering our lives. We so desperately need a President who listens to science and takes action based on science. #BidenHarris2020.”
He praised Harris’ legislation to protect public lands in California in June 2020, writing, “As @SenKamalaHarris pushes to protect our public lands, Trump is focused on helping his buddies in Big Oil. Dude gotta go.”
Also in the summer of 2020, he posted: “If you thought the Trump admin was [aggressive] at destroying our enviro & public health protections over the last 3.5 years then buckle up because they are preparing to burn it all down over the next few months. Come 2021, we will need all hands on deck to right the ship.”
In early 2021, as then-President-elect Joe Biden and Harris prepared to take office, Irby was one among the first hires announced by the vice president’s office.
“Each day seems to bring a new set of names of incredible climate and enviro leaders joining the administration!” Irby wrote on X that January as the new administration got up and running. “It’s thrilling and inspiring and just feels so good!”
Irby worked in the vice president’s office through the enactment of the massive infrastructure and climate legislation and regularly lauded Harris’ influence on those laws. Harris cast the tie-breaking vote to secure the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, the biggest climate law in U.S. history.
As Senator in 2019, @VP Harris introduced the Clean School Bus Act, the first bill dedicated to electrifying school buses.
Now, thanks to the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act, school buses across the nation are going electric. https://t.co/SaJAm2EEun
— Ike Irby (@IkeIrby46) December 19, 2022
Irby left his White House gig early this year and is now a campaign adviser to Harris.
Becca Ellison joined Harris’ White House office earlier this year as climate and implementation policy adviser, according to her LinkedIn profile. Ellison previously worked on climate at EPA, the Transportation Department and Evergreen Action.
During his time in the vice president’s office, Irby joined weekly meetings with the White House Climate Policy Office and traveled with Harris to international climate negotiations in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, last year. Ellison now joins those weekly meetings.
“With Ike and now Becca, the Climate Policy Office has enjoyed a robust partnership engaging on policy development, implementation and engagement to advance the president and vice president’s historic agenda on climate, clean energy and environmental justice,” White House national climate adviser Ali Zaidi said Wednesday in an interview.
When Irby stepped down, Harris praised his climate work in a story published in The Advocate.
“Ike has the ability to tackle the most complex and significant issues of our time with optimism and resolve — particularly when it comes to the climate crisis,” Harris told the outlet. “I am grateful for Ike’s service and counsel over the last nearly seven years and I know he will continue to have an impact on the people of our country and those around the world.”
When Harris and Irby interact, “it really comes across” how much “she likes and respects him and how highly she thinks of him,” said Sittenfeld of LCV.
Harris also appears to be a fan of Irby’s miniature poodle, Newton, who met her in 2019.
Some personal news: my puppy met my boss today! https://t.co/RqTwH4BJbo
— Ike Irby, PhD (@Ike_Irby) November 5, 2019
The affection is mutual, Irby wrote in 2019, declaring Newton part of the KHive, the online community of Harris supporters.
My puppy is obviously part of the #khive pic.twitter.com/kopaXzka3w
— Ike Irby, PhD (@Ike_Irby) November 21, 2019
