Sunrise Movement's Rose Strauss (L) and Olivia Freiwald moments after being asked to leave a Democratic Party fundraiser for PA Governor Tom Wolf and Senator Bob Casey they'd paid to attend.

Note to the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, it is bad form to ask youth voters who purchased tickets to a fundraiser for Senator Bob Casey, Governor Tom Wolf, and 6th District Congressional candidate Chrissy Houlahan to leave. It’s especially bad when they have spent the day canvassing for Democratic candidates. It’s unforgivably bad form when they are the Sunrise Movement’s Rose Strauss and Olivia Freiwald.

Video of Rose Strauss being called ‘young and naïve’ by GOP gubernatorial candidate Scott Wagner went viral this summer. She’d asked Wagner about climate change. "Two-thirds of Pennsylvanians think climate change is an issue that needs to be addressed, and you've said that climate change is a result of people's body heat and are refusing to take action on the issue. Does this have anything to do with the $200,000 you have taken from the fossil fuel industry?"

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Incumbent Tom Wolf and running mate John Fetterman lost no time making ‘young and naïve voter t-shirts and stickers, but Wolf never addressed the substance of Strauss’ question. The Sunrise Movement she represents has succeeded in getting more than 1,200 candidates nationwide to sign its No Fossil Fuel Money pledge. In Pennsylvania, 109 candidates, including John Fetterman, have taken the pledge. Casey and Wolf have not. In fact, according to Follow the Money, Casey has taken $48,550 in oil & gas industry donations during this election cycle. Wolf has taken $110,500.

Strauss and Freiwald recounted what happened at the fundraiser last night.

We went to the campaign event in order to talk to our elected officials. We had the pleasure of talking to Representative Carolyn Comitta who we know personally, State Representative candidate Anton Andrew, who we hadn’t met before but had canvassed for, and we were also hoping to get a chance to talk to Bob Casey and Tom Wolf in a more casual setting. Governor Wolf and his campaign were so supportive after Rose was called “young and naive” by his opponent, and we were excited for the opportunity to finally meet him in person! (Not to mention grateful there was a young Democrat student discount which seemed inviting for young people!) We paid for the tickets, and we were the only young people there, but it was exciting to feel like we were engaging in an event not many other people our age knew about. We heard about it pretty last minute and decided to go, and we felt really empowered knowing we were kinda representing our generation to all these representatives. It was a little awkward at first because we didn't know how to play any of the casino games, and of course didn't know anyone except Carolyn and Anton (they had lots of people to say hi to though), but we ended up talking to some folks and having some snacks too, waiting for Governor Wolf and Senator Casey to arrive! We even introduced ourselves to Senator Casey's aide, who said he would be excited to introduce us to him and get a picture of us together. After an hour and a half, we thought Governor Wolf might be arriving soon so we sat on the couch in the entrance hall to get a glimpse and maybe even a handshake. We were sitting there for maybe ten minutes and then the event coordinator walked up to us and said: “This is a private event- we’re going to have to ask you to leave”. We were pretty caught off guard by that, so we asked the woman what we did wrong. She didn't give an answer to that question other than “We're at capacity”, which didn't make sense because we had been there for 1.5 hours, plus we had paid for tickets before we got there and signed in at the welcome table when we arrived. We tried to videotape a bit of what was going on, but ultimately we didn’t want to make a huge scene, so we left. It was so confusing and sad to be kicked out of an event that was supposed to be encouraging civic engagement, and that we were clearly being singled out for some reason. Should people who are concerned about their future not be entitled to voice their concerns to their representatives? We truly didn’t have any motive to be there other than wanting to ask Governor Wolf a question about issues that directly impact our generation’s future. Just as we were ushered out the door, Governor Wolf rolled up in his black SUV and was quickly welcomed inside surrounded by security. Outside, we met up with a group of activists in the area who are trying to get Wolf to stop the dangerous Mariner East pipeline. The divide seemed so obvious between who was being listened to and who was being ignored -- the adults who paid $110 a ticket to play casino games and chat with the candidates, and the young people and constituents impacted by corporations threatening their health and safety who didn’t even get a seat at the table.

Last week’s dire warning from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that we have 12 years to work ourselves back from the climate cliff, something widely viewed to be a conservative estimate, makes the work Strauss, Freiwald, and the Sunrise Movement do all the more important and urgent. Casey and Wolf owe them an apology, to be sure, but they owe them much more than that. They owe them swift and decisive climate action that has been absent from the state that has only enabled the fossil fuel industry’s growth. The future is not theirs to gamble away.