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Campaigning In N.H., Inslee Says Of Climate Focus: ‘Nothing Else Will Do’

Annie Ropeik / NHPR
Jay Inslee, governor of Washington State, speaks to voters in Raymond on May 18, 2019.

Washington Gov. Jay Inslee brought his climate change-driven presidential campaign back to New Hampshire this weekend.

The Democrat recently unveiled a detailed, $9-trillion plan to spur rapid renewable energy growth and create 8 million related jobs.  

Speaking in Raymond Saturday, Inslee touched on other issues too – touting progressive policies he’s championed in his home state, including on health care, net neutrality and marijuana legalization and pardons for related misdemeanors.

Credit Annie Ropeik / NHPR
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, a Democratic presidential candidate, has climate change as the No. 1 issue for his campaign.

But he says he wants to keep climate change at the forefront of the race – and of his campaign.

"I wanted to be able to look at my three grandchildren in the eye and say that I did everything in my power to give them a healthy life and a non-degraded place to live,” he said during his stump speech. “And that's why I'm running for president, because nothing else will do."

Inslee also took questions on everything from how he’ll finance his climate proposals, to foreign policy, to whether he supports discontinuing the penny, which he said he’d look into.

Some of the 75 or so people at the event said they see Inslee as a one-issue candidate, and they're not sure he can win. But most said climate change is one of their top issues, and so they're glad he's in the race.

Annie has covered the environment, energy, climate change and the Seacoast region for NHPR since 2017. She leads the newsroom's climate reporting project, By Degrees.
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