Jay Inslee Is Headed To Iowa Following 2020 Announcement

Jay Inslee has his sights set on Iowa after announcing his presidential bid this morning. The Washington State governor will travel here on Tuesday of next week, holding several events in Cedar Rapids, Ames, and West Des Moines that focus on climate change issues.

In kicking off his White House run this morning, Inslee explained he would run largely on a message of addressing climate change, an issue that has long been his driving passion in politics. Plenty of other candidates in the expansive 2020 field have made climate change an important part of their message, but Inslee promises to use it as the centerpiece of his run. The entirety of his launch video focused on it. To stand out in the Democratic primary, which now totals 13 candidates, a laser-focus on one topic may be a good way to draw attention.

“Our country’s next mission must be to rise up to the most urgent challenge of our time: climate change,” Inslee declared in his video. “I’m Jay Inslee and I’m running for president because I’m the only candidate who will make defeating climate change our nation’s number one priority.”

VIDEO: This is our moment, our climate, our mission — together, we can defeat climate change. That's why I'm running for president. Join #OurClimateMoment today https://t.co/zg8ILGyk0Z pic.twitter.com/pUZVxyzfc5

— Jay Inslee (@JayInslee) March 1, 2019

A governor elected in 2012 and 2016, Inslee also served several terms in the U.S. House. Growing up in Seattle, he became involved in environmental issues at a young age, and got his electoral start in the state legislature. He co-founded the U.S. Climate Alliance in 2017, while as governor he passed a series of laws focused on renewable energy, including a Clean Energy Fund that directed $100 million to boosting new energy technologies.

Inslee made two trips out to Iowa during the midterms, both of which were aimed at helping Iowa Democratic candidates. As the chair of the DGA, he stumped with Fred Hubbell during the governor’s race. And he keynoted the IDP’s annual Hall of Fame Dinner, one of the early signs last year to Iowans he was seriously thinking about a run.

His initial Iowa swing now as an officially declared candidate will feature a tour of a Cedar Rapids’ renewable energy firm Paulson Electric. He hosts a climate roundtable with ISU students, where they’ll show the governor their work on campus to fight climate change. And he’ll hold a talk with leading climate change activists from Iowa in West Des Moines.

Here’s the details:

Tuesday, March 5th

Clean Energy Tour – Paulson Electric, Cedar Rapids
12:00 PM

Student Clean Energy Roundtable – ISU, Ames
1124 Biorenewables Research Lab
3:30 PM

West Des Moines Climate Gathering
Lawyer, Lawyer, Dutton & Drake Law Offices
7:00 PM

by Pat Rynard
Posted 3/1/19