Jay Inslee leaves the race for the presidency of 2020 today – live updates

Washington Governor Jay Inslee, who made the fight against climate change the central theme of his presidential campaign, announced Wednesday night that he was ending his candidacy for the 2020 Democratic nomination. Inslee announced its decision on MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show," acknowledging that it was now clear that he would not win.

Inslee kept the possibility of running for a third term as governor throughout his presidential campaign, but did not immediately announce his political plans.

"It's sort of the bookend of my campaign" Inslee said on MSNBC. "We started to see that climate change was going to be the number one job in the US I felt very good in saying that the first days of my campaign, and I feel very good about saying that now. is that it has become urgent – a billion tons of the ice melted in Greenland the other day. But we also met so many inspiring people, who want us to act, who helped me. 130,000 people helped me in this campaign. "

"But it has become clear that I will not be carrying the ball, I will not be the president, so I am retiring tonight from the race," he added.

Inslee, 68, is the last Democrat to end his presidential bid after US representative Eric Swalwell of California, who pulled out of the race last month. And former Colorado governor John Hickenlooper dropped his offer last week.

In an email addressed to supporters, Inslee said that he would have more to say about his next steps "in the coming days". Some signs suggest a third race for governor. This election will also take place in November 2020.

"I can assure you that I will continue to lead, demand courageous action and do everything in my power to keep the fight against climate change at the top of the national agenda." Inslee wrote. At the start of his campaign, Inslee promised to keep climate change in the national conversation, saying that in previous election cycles, the issue had received "little attention" from the candidates, the Democratic Party or the United States. media.

"Many campaigns have started with little attention to the climate, but since the beginning of our campaign, we have seen almost every serious candidate submit a climate plan," said his email. "More importantly, we have presented a detailed and comprehensive policy model for bold action in favor of climate change and transformation into a clean energy economy."

Inslee also fought unsuccessfully with the Democratic National Committee early in the summer for a debate specifically focused on climate change.

Several other Democratic candidates weighed in on the governor's decision to withdraw. Senator Bernie Sanders wrote in a tweet: "Congratulations to @JayInslee for his hard-hitting campaign to put the climate crisis at the forefront of the national conversation."

Although Inslee qualified for the first two presidential debates this summer, he struggled to gain ground in the crowded Democrats and fell short of the requirements for two high-profile venues next month. : The third CNN's town hall is focused on climate change, Inslee's key problem.

He had recently hit one of the markers – 130,000 unique donors. But it had not yet reached 2% in any of the polls and should have reached this level of support in four eligible polls.

Inslee is a former congressman and chaired the Democratic Governors Association in 2018, when the party overthrew seven governorship seats held by Republicans. He launched his campaign in Seattle in March, in front of a blue and green campaign logo with a bow of land, declaring that climate change was the country's most pressing problem.

Inslee was a champion of the clean energy sector at Congress and wrote a book on the subject. And he lobbied for state policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to be blamed on global warming. The day he announced his candidacy for the presidency, the State Senate adopted a key element of his legislative program on climate, a move to eliminate fossil fuels such as natural gas and coal from the state's electricity supply by 2045.

The measure, which was subsequently passed by the House and signed by Inslee in May, made Washington the fourth in the country to be mandated to provide carbon-free electricity by a specific date. According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, a few more states have passed clean energy requirements legislation since May.

In addition to advocating for a dedicated debate on climate change, Inslee's campaign featured climate proposals, including asking that the country's entire electricity grid and all new vehicles and buildings be free of carbon dioxide by 2030. He also proposed a clean break between the federal government and the fossil fuel industry, ending the tax breaks granted to oil companies and banning any drilling and extraction on federal lands and under their waters.

Inslee released its sixth and latest climate proposal, a plan focused on agriculture and farmers, several hours before it announced its abandonment of the race.

In a video posted Tuesday on Twitter, Inslee thanked his supporters for helping him to surpass 130,000 individual donors.

"Together we put the climate crisis at the center of the 2020 race," he said. "And thanks to you, every candidate knows that he must have a solid plan to defeat the climate crisis."

Governors of the state of Washington are not subject to term limits, although most have not served more than two terms. The last three-term governor in Washington was Republican Governor Dan Evans, who served from 1965 to 1977.

While the filing deadline for state elections in 2020 will not be until next May, three Democrats have already announced that they would run for governorship if Inslee does not did not do it: Attorney General Bob Ferguson, Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz and King County Executive, Dow Constantine. Political dominos continue with Democratic candidates lining up to run for the position of Attorney General and Land Commissioner if Ferguson and Franz do not seek re-election.

Some Republicans have already announced their intention to run for governorship, including Phil Fortunato, a state senator, and Loren Culp, chief of police of the Republic, in east Washington. A Republican has not occupied the governor's office for more than three decades.

Tim Perry contributed to this report.