Gov. Jay Inslee’s standout moments from Democratic debate

According to the debate hosts, CNN, Gov. Jay Inslee had 11 minutes of speaking time during the second night of round two of the 2020 Democratic Debates.

Going into the debate Inslee was polling at less than 1 percent with his campaign earning about 85,000 individual contributions. He will need to be polling at least 2 percent with 130,000 individual contributions to make the debate stage in September.

With this last round of debates possibly being his last, here are some key moments for Inslee during the debate.

Gov. Inslee has made climate change the bedrock of his campaign and in his opening statement, he noted that whoever the democratic nominee for president ends up being, they will be the last hope for the planet.

“Democrats are the last best hope for life on this planet. If we make the climate crisis a top priority of the United States, we will have a chance to save ourselves and our children’s futures,” Inslee said.

It took about 95 minutes for the debate to finally reach the topic of climate change. It is during this section of the debate where Inslee appeared to land his biggest blow of the night against former Vice President Joe Biden, with regard to his approach to addressing climate change.

Inslee, who was the first answer the question on climate change, opened with the following statement:

“We have to act now, climate change is not a singular issue, it is all the issues we (democrats) care about. It is health, national security and the economy,” Inslee said.

Inslee criticized Biden’s “middle ground solutions” as being too little, too late and too dangerous.

“We have to get off of coal in 10 years and off of fossil fuels in 15, your plans are too late,” said Inslee.

“Time is up. Our house is on fire!” Inslee said.

While climate change is Inslee’s top priority in his campaign he received arguably his loudest applause from the Detroit, Mich. audience when the debate turned to immigration.

Inslee noted that the debate thus far had been missing two central statements.

“One: we can no longer allow a white nationalist to be in the White House,” Inslee said, drawing tumultuous applause.

“Two: we have to make America what it has always been, a place of refuge.”

Inslee then touted how he was one of the first governors to request that Syrian refugees be sent to Washington state. He also touted his role in suing the Trump administration over the “Muslim ban” as well as other immigration and environmental policies.

The state of Washington has sued the Trump administration a total of 22 times.

In his closing statement, Inslee stressed the major stakes of the 2020 election.

“Under Donald Trump, we face a looming environmental catastrophe. But it is not too late, we have one last chance,” Inslee said.

“The survival of humanity and civilization as we know it is in the hands of the next president,” Inslee concluded.

Following the debates, Inslee’s campaign garnered 10,000 more individual donations. On Aug. 2 the campaign crossed the 100,000 individual donations threshold, leaving the candidate about 30,000 donations shy of the 130,000 donations needed to move on.