Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced last night on The Rachel Maddow Show that he is withdrawing from the presidential race, saying that he understands he will not become the Democratic nominee. Mr. Inslee is the third candidate to leave the presidential race. Washington political sources say that Mr. Inslee will electronically announce that he will seek a third term as Governor later today.
Saying he has no clear path to deny Washington Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-Gig Harbor) re-nomination, Bainbridge Island City Councilman Matt Tirman has already ended his Democratic primary challenge to the four-term Congressman. Mr. Tirman’s political move made little sense from its inception, and now Rep. Kilmer should easily sail to re-nomination and re-election.
It also looks like we will see a rerun of another 53-47% campaign, that in the state of Washington. In 2018, Rep. Jamie Herrera Beutler (R-Battle Ground/Vancouver) and college professor Carolyn Long (D) battled to a six-point finish. Ms. Long began a multi-city announcement tour this week, informing voters that she will return to the campaign trail to oppose the five-term GOP incumbent.
Another Democratic House member is likely to face a political primary from his ideological left. Yesterday, Bainbridge City Councilman Matthew Tirman (D) filed an exploratory committee to determine if he can raise adequate funding to challenge Rep. Derek Kilmer (D-Gig Harbor). Mr. Kilmer was first elected in 2012 from the Tacoma anchored seat, replacing 18-term Congressman Norm Dicks (D), who retired. Rep. Kilmer has yet to face a serious re-election challenge and it is yet undetermined if Mr. Tirman can mount the type of effort needed to deny the Congressman re-nomination.
The Washington Democrats, at their state party meeting over the weekend, decided to convert their caucus nomination system into a primary. Earlier, the legislature and Governor took action to move the nomination event date from late in the cycle to March 10, 2020. Washington moving means that 69% of the first ballot delegate votes will likely be locked into place at the close of the primaries and caucuses to be held on March 17, 2020.
As expected, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee did announce his Democratic presidential bid on Friday, making him the twelfth official candidate with decisions pending from former Vice President Joe Biden, ex-Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-TX), Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, and several others.
Gov. Inslee is basing his long shot presidential campaign around the climate change issue. But, perhaps the bigger element coming from his event came when a reporter asked him if announcing for President meant that he is ruling out running for a third term as Governor. Mr. Inslee quickly replied, “no, no, no!” Because the Washington candidate filing deadline is not until May of 2020, Mr. Inslee can stay in the race through the critical March 17th primary election day when 65% of the first ballot delegate votes will be committed. If not a factor headed toward the national convention at that time, he will easily have time to revert back into another race for Washington Governor. Reports coming from Washington State indicate that Gov. Jay Inslee (D), who formed a presidential exploratory committee in early January, will formally announce his campaign today. Gov. Inslee, by all accounts, is a minor presidential candidate who is unlikely to change the course of the race. He plans to make climate change is cornerstone issue, but it remains to be seen if he can catch fire to the point of catapulting into serious contention for the nomination.
Reports coming from Washington State indicate that Gov. Jay Inslee (D) will imminently announce the formation of a presidential exploratory committee. The Governor is working to construct a national finance team and develop a campaign platform that will center around climate change. At this point, Mr. Inslee would be the first Governor to take a step toward officially joining the candidate mix, although Montana Gov. Steve Bullock (D) and outgoing Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper (D) are both contemplating becoming a national candidate.
As more and more political figures begin to make statements and initiate moves toward the 2020 presidential race, one individual took a definitive step early this week. Two-term Washington Governor and ex-US Congressman Jay Inslee (D) formed a federal political action committee that could be the first step in his making a formal move into the presidential contest.
Of the 30 potential candidates who have at least acknowledged considering the race, six are Governors or former Governors. The sitting incumbents in addition to Gov. Inslee are Govs. John Hickenlooper (CO) and Steve Bullock (MT). The former state chief executives are Terry McAuliffe (VA), Martin O’Malley (MD), and Deval Patrick (MA). In another close contest, four-term Rep. Jamie Herrera Beutler (R-Vancouver) has been projected as the victor over Democratic candidate Carolyn Long. Washington, like California, allows voters to postmark their ballots on Election Day, so the counting process can consume days, if not weeks, to complete. It is clear, however, that her 13,000+ vote advantage would hold through the final counting process, hence her projection. The current percentage division is 52.6 – 47.4.
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