Key Moments From Jay Inslee's 2020 Presidential Debate Appearance

SEATTLE, WA — The field of 2020 Democratic presidential candidates is packed, and so was the stage at the first debate held in Miami Wednesday evening. Gov. Jay Inslee stood among nine other candidates — including U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Beto O'Rourke, and NYC Mayor Bill DeBlasio — in his first shot at national notoriety.

As most in Washington (and now the nation) know, Inslee, 68, is the climate candidate. Ahead of the debate, he released the "Evergreen Economy Plan," a $9 trillion package that would, among other things, create high-paying green economy jobs. Counter to coal-loving President Donald Trump, Inslee has also proposed shutting down all coal plants in the U.S. by 2030.

As important as it is, climate will likely not be the main issue in the 2020 presidential election — the Democratic National Committee has even declined to do a debate solely on climate. On Wednesday, the candidates fielded questions on everything from federal immigration code to Iran.

So how did Inslee do on his signature issue and on other topics? Here's a recap of his debate performance.

Inslee's intro

Inslee walked out between Hawaii U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and Maryland U.S. Rep. John Delaney. As we know, Inslee is tall, but Beto O'Rourke appeared to be just a hair taller, and O'Rourke had the advantage of being positioned in center stage.

Appropriately, Inslee was wearing a blue suit and greenish tie, the same colors as his presidential campaign logo.

First chance to talk

Inslee was the ninth candidate called on to speak (not counting followup questions), and he had a good moment.

Inslee followed Delaney on a question about jobs and the economy. He seized the opportunity to mention that unions are the best way to create new jobs and higher wages — and that got him a round of applause.

"It's not right the CEO of McDonald's makes 2,000, 100 times the people slinging hash," he said.

(In 2017, the McDonald's CEO actually made 3,101 times the median McDonald's worker.)

Then Inslee pivoted to climate, saying that he'll put people to work fixing the environment.

"Donald Trump is simply wrong. He says wind turbines cause cancer, we know they cause jobs," Inslee said.

No 'Medicare for all'

All the candidates were asked to raise their hands if they would give up their current healthcare plan for a single-payer Medicare-for-all plan. Inslee did not raise his hand.

In the ensuing debate, a heated one, Inslee kept raising his hand to speak. When he was finally called on, he highlighted Washington's new public option. He also waded into abortion, and kind of got slapped for it. He remarked he's "the only candidate" to have passed a law that protects abortion access.

"There are three women up here who have fought for a woman's right to choose," Klobuchar retorted, referring to herself, Warren, and Gabbard.

Border crisis

When the topic came around, Inslee was the last candidate called on to talk about the crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. He was specifically asked what he would do on "day one" as president, but didn't really answer.

"There's no reason for the detention and separation of these children, they should be released pending their hearings," he responded.

He also took an opportunity to knock Trump.

"Donald Trump the other day tried to threaten me that he would try to send refugees to Washington state. I told him that's not a threat at all. We welcome refugees into our state," he said.

Gap in time

Toward the end of the first hour of the debate, a number of topics were passed around that Inslee didn't get to speak on — guns, Supreme Court appointments, Mitch McConnell. There was also a technical glitch that caused a short delay. All told, Inslee went unheard from for almost 30 minutes straight

Climate, finally

At 7:23 p.m. PST, moderator Rachel Maddow finally raised climate change, and went straight to Inslee.

He wasn't ultra-specific about his plans, although he did reference the state's new clean energy law. Instead, he talked broadly about the "climate emergency."

"We're the first generation to feel the sting of climate change, and we're the last that can do something about it," he said. "I am the candidate and the only one who is saying this has to be the top priority of the United States."

(Moderator Chuck Todd brought up how I-1631, Inslee's carbon fee ballot measure, was not passed by voters.)

After comments from a few other candidates, the debate turned to LGBTQ rights.

On threats

Chuck Todd asked all the candidates to name "the greatest geopolitical threat to the U.S."

"The biggest threat to the United States is Donald Trump," Inslee said. Other candidates said climate change (and nuclear weapons).

Closing statement

Inslee spoke for a total of 4 minutes and 10 seconds during the debate, according to a New York Times counter. Plus his 45-second-ish closing statement:

"When I was as thinking about whether to run for president, I decided on my last day on Earth I wanted to look [my grandchildren] in the eyes and tell them I did everything humanly possible to protect them from the ravages of the climate crisis.

"If you join me in the recognition of how important this is, we can have a unified national mission. We can save ourselves, we can save our children, and we can save our grandchildren

"This is our moment," he concluded.