Jay Inslee

Jay Robert Inslee (/ˈɪnzliː/; born February 9, 1951) is an American politician, lawyer, and economist who has served as the 23rd governor of Washington since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 to 1995 and again from 1999 to 2012, and was a candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. He is the longest-serving current governor in the United States.

Born and raised in Seattle, Inslee graduated from the University of Washington and Willamette University College of Law. He served in the Washington House of Representatives from 1989 to 1993. In 1992, Inslee was elected to represent Washington's 4th congressional district, based around Central Washington, in the U.S. House of Representatives. Defeated for reelection in 1994, Inslee briefly returned to private legal practice. He made his first run for governor of Washington in 1996, coming in fifth in the blanket primary with 10% of the vote ahead of the general election, which was won by Democrat Gary Locke. Inslee then served as regional director for the United States Department of Health and Human Services under President Bill Clinton.

Inslee returned to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1999, this time for Washington's 1st congressional district. The new district included Seattle's northern suburbs in King County, Snohomish County, and Kitsap County. He was reelected six times before announcing that he would make another run for the governorship in the 2012 election. He resigned from Congress to focus on his campaign. He defeated Republican Rob McKenna, the state attorney general, 51% to 48%. Inslee was reelected to a second term in 2016, defeating Republican Seattle Port Commissioner Bill Bryant, 54% to 45%. Inslee served as chair of the Democratic Governors Association for the 2018 election cycle.

Inslee was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for president of the United States in the 2020 election, launching his campaign on March 1, 2019. He suspended his campaign on August 21, citing extremely low poll numbers. The next day, Inslee announced his intention to seek a third term as governor in the 2020 election, which he won with 57% of the vote, becoming the first incumbent governor of Washington elected to a third term in more than 40 years.

As governor, Inslee has emphasized climate change, education, criminal justice reform, and drug policy reform. He has garnered national attention for his critiques of President Donald Trump. Inslee joined state attorney general Bob Ferguson and state solicitor general Noah Purcell in suing the Trump administration over Executive Order 13769, which halted travel for 90 days from seven Muslim-majority countries and imposed a total ban on Syrian refugees entering the United States. The case, Washington v. Trump, led to the order being blocked by the courts, and other executive orders later superseded it.