A panel of the Democratic National Committee on Thursday rejected a proposal to host a single-issue debate on the climate crisis.

At a party conference Thursday in San Francisco, the DNC’s resolutions committee voted 17-8 against a resolution that has become a cause célèbre for activists and for more than a dozen presidential contenders who felt the traditional debate format failed to adequately address the looming threat of catastrophe. The issue could resurface during the full committee’s general session on Saturday.

It was a predictable outcome. Top brass at the DNC opposed the climate debate from the get-go, fearing it could sow discord in the base and hamper the eventual nominee in the general election. CNN and MSNBC announced plans last month to host forums on climate change in September. DNC Chair Tom Perez affirmed the forums in a resolution introduced earlier this month, which some activists saw as setting the stage for voting down the climate debate.

Symone Sanders, a senior adviser of presidential candidate Joe Biden, was among those who urged the DNC on Thursday to vote down a climate debate, saying it would be “dangerous territory in the middle of a Democratic primary process.”

That contrasts with what Biden had earlier said during a campaign stop in Iowa this summer. The former vice president had endorsed having a climate debate, telling Greenpeace, “I’m all in.”

The influential youth-led climate group Sunrise Movement, a driving force behind the climate debate push, filled the room where the vote took place with as many as 100 activists on Thursday.

“We deserve a chance at a livable future,” one Sunrise activist shouted after the vote. “We deserve a climate debate.”

The nonprofit vowed to hold protests over the next day intended to shame the DNC for voting down the measure. At the same time, it applauded the committee’s vote to advance a resolution reversing a ban on 2020 candidates participating alongside one another at climate forums not sanctioned by the DNC.

“This partial victory shows the strength of the grassroots movement and the power of young people,” Sunrise Movement spokesperson Sofie Karasek said in a statement. “In the coming days and months, we’ll keep fighting to make sure the DNC and Tom Perez treat the climate crisis like the emergency that it is, and give it the airtime and attention that it deserves.”

Adding to the string was Democratic presidential candidate Jay Inslee’s departure from the 2020 race. The Washington governor, who pegged his entire candidacy to a sweeping climate plan, dropped out late Wednesday night as his low polling numbers disqualified from the next full debate in September.