The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Washington Gov. Inslee joins Dems’ 2020 field
SEATTLE — Declaring climate change the nation’s most pressing issue, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee launched his 2020 Democratic presidential bid Friday with a promise to refocus American government and society.
“It is time for our nation to set a new priority,” Inslee told supporters gathered at a solar panel business in Seattle. “This is truly our moment. It is our moment to solve America’s most daunting challenge and make it the first, foremost and paramount duty of the United States ... to defeat climate change.”
The 68-year-old former congressman becomes the first governor to enter a race dominated by senators. Montana Gov. Steve Bullock and former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper also are eyeing presidential campaigns.
It won’t be easy for Inslee to garner attention with prominent senators already running: Cory Booker of New Jersey, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Kamala Harris of California, Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Former Vice President Joe Biden and former Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke also are expected to make highly anticipated 2020 announcements in the coming weeks.
But Inslee says his emphasis on combating climate change sets him apart from his competitors and from Republican President Donald Trump.
Inslee frames climate action as an economic opportunity, not just a moral imperative. He didn’t talk specifically Friday about the costs of his vision, other than to criticize considerable tax subsidies for the fossil fuel industry. But he argued that public and private investments in clean energy are a net boon for working Americans that would create “millions of jobs” doing such work as building “electric cars in Michigan” and installing solar panels on homes in every state.
Inslee argues that no presidential candidate has hinged a campaign as heavily on climate and environmental policy as he will. He unveiled a blue and green campaign logo with an arc of the Earth, eschewing the typical red, white and blue. His Twitter feed Friday was replete with the hashtag #OurClimateMoment.
He plans his first trip as a candidate to Iowa next week, with events geared to climate issues. Trips to Nevada and California will follow.
Despite his emphasis on climate policy, Inslee says he’s not a one-issue candidate. He pitches his breadth of personal and political experiences as ideal to bridge political and cultural divides among the Democratic base and the broader electorate.
Inslee has governed Washington state as an unabashed liberal, promoting clean energy, gay rights, abortion rights, environmental preservation, tighter gun restrictions and more spending for education and job training. In Congress, he voted against the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003 and for a ban on certain military-style guns.
Most recently, he’s called for a state-based public option health insurance plan in Washington that he says is a “step toward universal health care.”