Like many career politicians, Washington Governor Jay Inslee has a history of using an elected position as a springboard for seeking higher office. In 2012, then-U.S. Representative Inslee resigned before his term was up to run full time for governor. In 2019, after announcing his candidacy for president last week, he has no plans to quit his day job. Are there differences between 2012 and 2019?
A liberal Democrat, Inslee was elected to represent Washington’s 1st congressional district in 1992. In 2012 he resigned from the House to run for governor after learning that Christine Gregoire wouldn’t be seeking a third term. In a partisan political move, Inslee delayed his resignation until March 6, which was after a state deadline that would have required a special election to fill his seat until the November general election. That was the best way to keep his district under Democratic control.
Inslee’s strategy paid off as he defeated Attorney General Rob McKenna by 3 percentage points to become Washington’s 23rd governor in 2012. He was reelected in 2016. The Democrats kept the 1st district seat.
Inslee had no problem leaving his district unrepresented for most of 2012. Downplaying any effect his absence might have on his constituents, he explained that Senators Cantwell and Murray would take up the slack.
This time around there’s no talk of resigning one office to go all-in for another. That’s although comparing the effort required to run for governor versus run for president is like comparing one Navy ship to the whole fleet.
To boost his name recognition in the crowded field of Democratic candidates, Inslee will need to spend much of his time away from Washington, and he will need to appear on every cable television show that will have him. Think of how many trips to Iowa, New Hampshire, etc., that means. Plus he has to raise millions of dollars for the campaign.
Can he do that and still do a good job as Washington’s governor? Ethically, should he do that and remain as Washington’s governor? The answer to the first question is no (unless he flames out of the presidential race early). The answer to the second is that other governors do it so why shouldn’t Inslee?
To be fair, Washington has a competent lieutenant governor (Cyrus Habib) who will fill in when Inslee is gone. Plus his cabinet members are going to do their jobs whether he’s there or not. As far as signing bills into law, he doesn’t need to be in Olympia to fulfill that constitutional responsibility. Ceremony might suffer but taxes will still be raised.
However, that’s not all a governor does. A governor provides leadership, sets the tone and direction for the state, makes the legislature compromise when needed. Plus a governor is the one elected voice who can communicate state-wide about big issues. Washington, like most states, has plenty of those. It’s hard to do that when you are on the road.
But let’s be real. Politics is as much about what’s best for the politician as it is about what’s best for the voters.
One big difference between 2019 and 2012 is that this time it will take Inslee an extra year to run for office. That’s the nature of campaigning for president. Plus the competition is tougher at the national level. So he might feel it’s too early to resign esp. since his campaign might not last until the Iowa caucuses. That’s not a knock on Inslee, just an observation that his gamble of running on the single issue of climate change might not be enough to propel him into the top tier of candidates and keep him there.
If he can stay in the race, he will want to do so as a sitting governor so he can point to his successes—real or not—in Washington: education, the environment, transportation, jobs, ending capital punishment.
Finally, by not resigning, if he bombs out of the presidential race early, the option for running for a third term as governor stays open.
Mud Bay Blog 