Key Moments From Gov. Jay Inslee's Second Debate Performance

OLYMPIA, WA — Jay Inslee's second debate performance on Wednesday night is being touted as a big improvement over his first debate appearance in June, with the governor boasting about his legislative accomplishments at home and sparring with Joe Biden.

Unlike the last debate, Inslee was one of the first candidates to give opening remarks, and he used the time to pump up the crowd about climate change.

"I am running for president because the people in this room and the Democrats watching tonight are the last best hope for humanity on this planet," he said.

Here are other key moments from Inslee's debate appearance:

Healthcare

Inslee's second chance to talk came about 45 minutes into the debate after a long exchange about healthcare. He said the U.S. needs "universal coverage," but didn't mention Medicare For All. He got a big round of applause when he said that mental and physical health must be treated equally.

He also took a moment to congratulate himself for Washington's recent adoption of a public option healthcare plan.

Immigration

At about 6:05 p.m. (PST), a moderator pulled Inslee into a discussion on immigration law. Inlsee used the moment to hit Donald Trump.

"We can no longer allow a white nationalist to be in the White House," Inslee said.

Inlsee also touted the 21 lawsuits he's filed against Trump — although Attorney General Bob Ferguson and his lawyers are almost entirely responsible for those.

Race relations

Inslee stumbled a bit when he was asked how he would heal the racial divide in the U.S. He started by saying that he has never experienced racism or sexism, but then started talking about legislative roadblocks in the Senate.

"We need to get rid of the filibuster," he said as a moderator asked him to end his speaking time.

Climate change

Amid a discussion about each candidate's climate change plan, Inslee went after Joe Biden. Inslee asked Biden to say if he would allow subsidies for coal and fracking, and then he also called Biden's climate change plan "middling."

Inslee's campaign has been promoting the moment on social media:

Inslee also got a shout-out from U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, who paraphrased his line about Trump and wind turbines: "Wind turbines don't cause cancer. They cause jobs."

Inslee doubled the amount of time he got to speak. In the June debate, he spoke for 4 minutes 10 seconds, but got 10 minutes 48 seconds on Wednesday, according to the New York Times.

Inslee has an uphill battle to get to the next round of debates in September. He'll need to earn 2 percent support in polls and have at least 130,000 unique donors. He has until Aug. 28 to hit those goals.