Jay Inslee withdraws from the 2020 presidential race

Washington Governor Jay Inslee is stepping down from the 2020 presidential race, he announced on Wednesday night on The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC.

Inslee had focused its campaign on climate change, calling it "the most urgent challenge of our time.

"This is the time to put the greatest threat to our existence, our economy and our health to the top of the country's priorities," Inslee said in March at the launch of its campaign in Seattle.

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He presented a detailed 10-year plan on how he would move the country to clean energy, encouraging other candidates to submit their own plans. The Democratic National Committee has asked the organization to hold a debate focused on climate change.

The DNC rejected its requests in June, but CNN announced soon after that it would hold a forum on the issue with the 2020 candidates in September. Inslee, however, did not meet the survey criteria used by the network for this event – a minimum of 2% in four DNC-recognized ballots – and was not on the list of participants announced Tuesday by the network.

While Inslee said on Monday that he had reached the threshold of 130,000 donations for the upcoming Democratic debate in September, his lack of eligible polls would probably have also prevented him from participating in this debate.

Inslee is the third major candidate in the sprawling field to leave the race after California representative Eric Swalwell and former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper.