All 25 Democratic presidential candidates talk up the need for policies to combat climate change. But only Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is staking his 2020 campaign on it.
Inslee is a longtime advocate of environmental causes over his nearly 30-year political career. As governor since 2013, Inslee has pushed policies to subsidize numerous solar panels and electric buses, which he says generated thousands of new jobs in renewable energy.
For his presidential campaign, Inslee’s team crafted a climate plan aimed at getting the U.S. to 100% renewable energy, and eliminating its carbon footprint by 2030 and 2035, respectively. And while Washington has achieved respectable economic growth during Inslee’s tenure, he has come up short in legislative efforts to enact the country’s first statewide carbon tax.
Before the governorship, Inslee was a House member over two stints in the other Washington, the nation’s capital. After four years as state representative, Inslee in 1992 won a House seat based in eastern Washington. But he got swept out of office in the 1994 Republican Revolution after a single term.
Inslee moved across the state, ran, and beat a Republican incumbent, setting up a congressional career that lasted until 2012, when he left D.C. to run for governor.
Inslee, 68, is a Seattle native who became the starting quarterback on his high school football team. He also helped lead his basketball team to the state championship in his senior year. He met his wife Trudi as a student in high school, and they got married in 1972. Inslee largely made his living as an attorney before seeking public office.
Like the other lesser-known 2020 Democratic candidates, Inslee faces the challenge of breaking out of a large pack of contenders in a debate crowd of 10 people. Throughout his presidential campaign, he’s toured environmentally hard-hit areas, including by flood and tornadoes, which he contends are a result of climate change.
