Governor Jay Inslee, aged 68, has joined front runner Bernie Sanders in what is becoming a very crowded field of candidates seeking the Democratic White House nomination.
To make his bid stand out, Inslee has spoken recently about the importance of tackling climate change. As a sideways dig to several others in the race he has declared he will not accept any campaign funding from a company that invests in fossil fuels. Given that there are 27 potential candidates so far, (according to Rolling Stone), any distinguishing campaign policy element will be helpful to candidates.
The focus on climate impact came about when Inslee spoke on ABC’s This Week on Sunday. He discussed the “huge cost to our economy, to our health, to our national security” if the U.S. does not properly work to address climate change.
When questioned by the show’s host about what “sacrifices” U.S. citizens may have to make to combat environmental issues, Inslee countered with the potentially catastrophic price of doing nothing: “If you net this out, what’s going to require sacrifices is the course of inaction.”
In a separate interview, Inslee said fighting climate change “has to be the number-one priority of the United States. Every agency has to be on board, and it has to take priority over everything else we do.”
To support these words, Inslee’s record includes helping lead the U.S. Climate Alliance, which is a bipartisan group of 22 governors dedicated implementing the Paris Climate Agreement.
Furthermore, as a twice-elected governor, Inslee has one of the most established political records on the issue of climate change in the U.S., especially through his efforts to transition Washington state off of fossil fuels. Inslee has worked to promote electric vehicles, launched schemes to fund clean energy research and to pass legislation requiring Washington State utilities to extract more energy from renewables.
