Presidential hopeful to talk climate change

Jake Webster

UPDATE: The event has been moved to Room 3534 in the Memorial Union.

College Democrats President Taylor Blair said the move was due to scheduling conflicts.

ORIGINAL: Newly announced 2020 Democratic presidential contender Gov. Jay Inslee, 68, of Washington will be visiting Iowa State at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, to discuss climate change at an event in Room 1124 in the Biorenewables Research Lab.

Inslee announced his candidacy Friday, pitching himself as “the climate candidate.” Inslee’s campaign focuses heavily on the climate issue his campaign website biography mentions “climate” or “climate change” at least four times. A recent YouGov poll found that 17 percent of Democrats name the environment as the most important issue to them.

As governor, Inslee signed legislation enacting a green transportation infrastructure investment. He also allocated funds to establish the Clean Energy Institute at the University of Washington.

Inslee established the United States Climate Alliance in 2017 alongside Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D-NY., and then-Gov. Jerry Brown, D-Calif., pledging their states would continue to meet the commitments of the 2015 Paris Agreement on Climate Change to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The alliance has expanded to include 21 states and Puerto Rico.

Inslee first entered politics in 1988 when he was elected to the Washington House of Representatives. He was elected to his first stint in the U.S. House of Representatives from Washington’s 4th district in 1992 and lost reelection in 1994. He moved to a different part of the state and was returned to Congress from Washington’s 1st district in 1998, which he served until being elected governor in 2012 by a 3 percent margin.