Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, who sought to bring the climate crisis to the forefront of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary but whose candidacy failed to gain traction, dropped out of the race Wednesday evening.
“It's become clear that I'm not going to be carrying the ball. I'm not going to be the president, so I'm withdrawing tonight from the race," Inslee said on The Rachel Maddow Show. But "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.”
Inslee did manage to push the issue of climate change forward, with CNN devoting an upcoming forum to it—but he didn’t reach the 2% in polls required to qualify for that forum himself. He is reportedly planning to run for a third term as Washington’s governor.