Gov. Jay Inslee
California Democratic Party State Convention
San Francisco, CA
June 1, 2019

Good afternoon, California. My name is Jay Inslee. I am the governor who doesn't think we should be ashamed of our progressive values. I am the governor who represents the clean air, clean water, clean energy wing of the Democratic Party.

And since it is the first day of Pride Month, I want to quote Harvey Milk, famous San Francisco leader, "I have come to recruit you." I have come to recruit you in a clean energy revolution. I have come to recruit you in a noble effort to make Donald Trump a blip in history.

And we need, we know something about beating Donald Trump in Washington. I'm happy to report to you, I beat him 21 times in a row in court. so far.

Now the reason we have been successful in Washington is because we produce results to protect our basic values.

So let me say this to the women of Alabama and Georgia and Missouri and Louisiana. You are welcome in the state of Washington, because we respect the civil right of a woman's choice.

Let me say that we protect and I'm proud to be the first governor to sign a bill to protect your net neutrality, your access to the internet.

We are going— and I do believe we will beat him on these issues. We will beat him on health care on climate change. And it may be a surprise to him, but we will be him on the issue of immigration and I'll tell you why. America is not the cruel place that he envisions. The light of the Statue of Liberty has not gone out from this good nation.  We know, we know that America is just much a set of ideas as it is a place. We know it is a set of dreams as much as memories.

So I'm happy to tell you that I'm proud to have been the first governor to stand up against his heinous Muslim ban.

And when he tried, when he tried, when he tried to threaten Washington State, to say I'm going to send my refugees to Washington State. I said you bet, send them over; they're a virtue, not a vice. And that's what we believe, as Democrats in this nation.

Now you heard about this idea, he wants to break away from family immigration. He wants to go what's called merit-based immigration. I'll tell you what. You know what has merit? Grandparents have merit, fathers have merit, uncles and aunts have merit, families have merit. And we need to continue this tradition of America.

And we know that we are the only party who is willing to face the existential threat to the United States of America, and that is the threat of the climate crisis. We are the party of science. We are the party of confidence in the American people to build a clean energy future in the United States. We are the people that understand that wind turbines do not cause cancer, they cause jobs. And we are going to put, we are going to put eight million people to work in good union jobs all across America, inventing a reindustrialized, mobilized economy in United States,

You know what we're going to have? We're going to have UAW members making electric cars in Michigan, we're going to have IBEW members making. wind turbines in Iowa. We're going to have machinists making electric batteries in Nevada, and steel workers building plants, to refine biofuels. Our message to America is join us, you are going to have a better job and a better future in a Democratic clean energy economy in United States of America. That is what we stand for.

Now, I am not the only person who thinks I have the best plan to get this job done. I'm proud  that Greenpeace rated mine the best clean energy plan that's been offered. I'm glad that AOC has sort of said the same thing. I'm glad that Climate Advisors have said the same thing.

And this plan is based on a couple thoughts. And that is a couple things that I believe in the American character. The American character is one of compassion for fellow Americans.

And when I went to Paradise, California and I saw that town burned down to the foundations, and when I went to Seminole Springs and I looked into the eyes of a woman named Marsha Moss, who showed me a hole where her home had been—burned to the ground by these fires—I knew it was time to act. And I decided that in my final days on Earth, I want to be able to look at my grandchildren in the eyes and say I did everything humanly possible to save them from the clutches of climate change. And if you elect me president of the United States, I will make this the number one job in the United States, every single day that I'm president, and we will get this job done.

Because it is based, it is based on compassion and confidence.

Now, I'd like you to help me on this. Look we need the Democratic Party to figure out who's got the best plans how to get this job done. So I'm writing a letter to our Chairman Perez today urging him to have a debate on climate change. We need to figure out, we need to figure out who's got the best plans to get this job done. And I hope you're gonna join me in that effort.

Now I'm gonna finish, I'm going to finish on a note that is in all of our hearts today and that is tragedy in the shootings in Virginia. We know that has touched every American heart. It has touched mine for a long time. I lost my seat Congress 1994 voting for the assault weapons ban. But you know what? I have never regretted that vote. That was the right vote then, and it is the right vote now. And those people who say, those people who say that we shouldn't talk about gun safety in the wake of a tragedy. This is exactly the moment when we need to demand what we're doing in Washington, which is crushing the NRA and bringing gun safety to the United States of America.

Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and organize. [inaud.]  Thanks a lot you guys .Let's go get 'em. Thank you. Thank you.
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Ed. notes: Inslee had a one-minute plus introduction from Jay Hansen, president and CEO of the California Foundation on the Environment and the Economy. Inslee then introduced himself, "I am the governor who doesn't think we should be ashamed of our progressive values. I am the governor who represents the clean air, clean water, clean energy wing of the Democratic Party."  After touching on a number of issues, he focused on climate change, or as he put it "the existential threat to the United States of America, and that is the threat of the climate crisis."  Inslee was well received by the audience.