Gov. Inslee inches closer to Democratic presidential debate stage
May 21, 2019, 12:39 PM | Updated: 3:54 pm
(Ted Warren / AP)
(Ted Warren / AP)
Gov. Jay Inslee is inching closer to meeting the minimum requirement to be allowed to take the Democratic debate stage for the 2020 presidential primary.
Inslee polling behind ‘someone else’ but raises $2.25 million
Inslee announced Monday that “more than 60,000 people” have donated to his campaign. In order to to participate in the Democrat debates, he needs 65,000 individual donors, 200 of whom must be from 20 different states.
The campaign donors requirement is one of two possible criteria that candidates have the option of meeting. The other requires a candidate to poll at 1 percent or greater in three national polls, something Inslee has struggled to do since his campaign launched.
Despite his poor polling numbers, Gov. Inslee’s fundraising efforts have proven successful in the early months of his run at the White House. In mid-April, he revealed that his campaign had raised over $2.25 million in a month-and-a-half, 95 percent of which came from individual donations under $100 each.
73 percent of voters haven’t heard of Jay Inslee
Representatives from his campaign pointed to his strong climate change message as the driving factor behind the fundraising efforts.
“This first-month fundraising shows strong grassroots momentum for Gov. Inslee’s message of defeating climate change,” said campaign manager Aisling Kerins. “Jay Inslee is the only 2020 candidate who will make climate change the top priority. That clear message allowed Gov. Inslee’s upstart campaign to raise money at a faster clip than many better-known candidates.
Inslee’s climate change plan got a signal boost just this week too, thanks to an endorsement from New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
.@JayInslee’s climate plan is the most serious + comprehensive one to address our crisis in the 2020 field.
It meets key marks:
✅ Big enough
✅ Fast enough
✅ Economically stimulating for working people
✅ Acknowledges injustice + w/ an eye to make communities whole https://t.co/C7nyEsdUxk— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 18, 2019
