The Democratic field just got a big smaller, but this is bound to happen as September approaches and it becomes clear who will and will not make the cut for the debate stage.
Washington State Governor Jay Inslee appeared on Rachel Maddow's show to break the news that he was officially dropping out of the Democratic race for the 2020 presidential nomination.
GOV. INSLEE: This show has been so good to me, this is sort of the book ends of my campaign. We started saying climate change had to be the number one job in the United States. I felt very good saying that the first days of my campaign. I feel very good saying that now. The reason is, this has become more urgent. A billion tons of ice melting in Greenland the other day, we've also had so many people inspiring, who want us to act, who have helped me. 130,000 people help me in this campaign. But, it's become clear I'm not going to be the one carrying the ball, I'm not going to be president, so I'm withdrawing tonight from the race. But I have to tell you, look, I've been fighting climate change for 25 years, and I've never been so confident of the ability of America now to reach critical mass, to move the ball. I believe we are going to have a candidate to fight this battle. I'm inspired by the people i've met across the country, the young people in the Sunrise movement, the Climate Strikers, these people have given me confidence we can move ahead, so I'm not gonna be carrying the ball, but we're gonna make sure somebody is.
Maddow talked about his plan to combat climate change, which she characterized as not just a road map, but "an atlas" because of how detailed and comprehensive it is. He agreed, and said it's an open source document, there for whoever the nominee ends up being to pick up and use for her- or himself.
It's a governing document, not a campaign slogan. It's open source. So, whoever our nominee is can use that, I think we started an arms race of candidates, to see who can raise their ambition level, and it's helped them become more ambitious. I think we've now advanced the dialogue to have debates. Look I hope the party is going to have the debate, they're going to vote on that tomorrow. Your networks are going to have a forum. We clearly have raised the profile on that. We've done something else I think, we've given people hope. The grassroots has responded to this message of young people all over the country moving forward. I mentioned we had a big boost of support, we had 42,000 people help us, since I finally got to talk about it in the second debate. I don't think there's any question that we have had success moving the needle and so I think this has been a positive experience, and I'm hearing from people who were happy we were in it.
We're definitely glad he was in it, and let's hope the discussion about climate change continues to be front and center given the gravity of the situation. Maybe if the Dems win in 2020, Gov. Inslee could serve as head of the EPA to actually work with other nations using this thing called s-c-i-e-n-c-e to help the planet and its inhabitants mitigate some of the damage we've caused. You know, since the sale of Greenland fell through.
UPDATE: Reports this morning by the Associated Press suggest Inslee will run for a third term as Governor of Washington, making an official announcement Thursday.
