This morn­ing, Gov­er­nor Jay Inslee announced he would not be seek­ing a fourth term as Wash­ing­ton State’s chief exec­u­tive and will “pass the torch” to a new leader when his cur­rent term ends in Jan­u­ary 2025.

Here’s a roundup of state­ments we’ve received com­ment­ing on the gov­er­nor’s announce­ment from oth­er state offi­cials and par­ty leaders.

Unit­ed States Sen­a­tor Pat­ty Mur­ray:

Con­grat­u­la­tions to my friend Gov­er­nor Inslee. You’ve made his­toric progress for Wash­ing­ton State — whether it was lead­ing the nation on cli­mate, get­ting us through COVID, or build­ing a stronger econ­o­my for every­one. Your lead­er­ship has made life bet­ter for so many peo­ple in our state.

House Speak­er Lau­rie Jinkins:

Under Gov­er­nor Inslee’s tenure, Wash­ing­ton has con­sis­tent­ly been a nation­al leader in for­ward-think­ing poli­cies cham­pi­oning cli­mate action and clean ener­gy, civ­il rights, gun vio­lence pre­ven­tion, and an econ­o­my that works bet­ter for every­one. Our state fared bet­ter than almost any oth­er dur­ing the pan­dem­ic thanks to tough deci­sions he made that saved thou­sands of lives and helped our econ­o­my bounce back faster and more equi­tably. As Speak­er I have appre­ci­at­ed work­ing with him and his admin­is­tra­tion on some of the most chal­leng­ing issues fac­ing our state, includ­ing our con­tin­ued work to find a statewide solu­tion in response to the Blake decision.

Sen­ate Major­i­ty Leader Andy Billig:

Gov­er­nor Inslee has guid­ed Wash­ing­ton on a path to achieve remark­able progress over the past decade.

He will be the first to tell you there are many chal­lenges that remain, and I look for­ward to con­tin­u­ing our work togeth­er over the next year and a half. But today is a day to cel­e­brate a lega­cy and a part­ner­ship that pro­duced his­toric leg­is­la­tion to com­bat cli­mate change and gun vio­lence, and to expand vot­ing rights and make our tax sys­tem more sta­ble and fair. We’ve seen Washington’s econ­o­my reach new heights under his watch, and his lead­er­ship was crit­i­cal in times of cri­sis such as the Oso mud­slide, the I‑5 bridge col­lapse in Skag­it Coun­ty, and espe­cial­ly dur­ing the COVID pan­dem­ic when he imple­ment­ed crit­i­cal safe­ty mea­sures to save thou­sands of lives.

In tough times and in great times, Gov­er­nor Inslee has led our state with integri­ty, com­pas­sion, and vision.

Wash­ing­ton State Demo­c­ra­t­ic Par­ty Chair Shasti Conrad:

“Gov­er­nor Inslee’s stead­fast lead­er­ship has guid­ed Wash­ing­ton through both times of his­toric pros­per­i­ty and unprece­dent­ed cri­sis. He kept us safe and secure through the coro­n­avirus pan­dem­ic, and deliv­ered trans­for­ma­tion­al poli­cies on cli­mate change, eco­nom­ic jus­tice, and gun vio­lence pre­ven­tion. Wash­ing­ton has become a bea­con of hope in a divid­ed Amer­i­ca under his watch, and the Wash­ing­ton Democ­rats stand ready to defend his lega­cy at the bal­lot box next year.”

In the past three statewide elec­tions, Wash­ing­ton Democ­rats’ staff have orga­nized thou­sands of vol­un­teers to make mil­lions of phone calls to vot­ers and knock on hun­dreds of thou­sands of doors to get out the vote for the Demo­c­rat lead­ing the top of the tick­et. As a result of those unprece­dent­ed orga­niz­ing efforts, Sen­a­tor Maria Cantwell, Gov­er­nor Jay Inslee, and Sen­a­tor Pat­ty Mur­ray each trounced their Repub­li­can oppo­nents in the gen­er­al elec­tion by dou­ble digits.

Ever­green Action co-founders Jamal Raad, Sam Rick­etts, Ais­ling Kerins, Tra­cy New­man, Jared Leopold and Brack­en Hendricks:

Gov­er­nor Inslee has been one of the most impact­ful gov­er­nors on cli­mate action in Amer­i­can his­to­ry. Dur­ing the eleven years he has so far served as gov­er­nor, trans­formed Wash­ing­ton state’s cli­mate pol­i­cy, and made the Ever­green State the mod­el for a thriv­ing and just clean ener­gy econ­o­my. Gov­er­nor Inslee passed nation-lead­ing one hun­dred per­cent clean elec­tric­i­ty and econ­o­my-wide car­bon reduc­tion laws, as well as land­mark clean fuels and envi­ron­men­tal jus­tice legislation.

Through his lead­er­ship in Con­gress, as gov­er­nor, and his vision­ary cam­paign for pres­i­dent, Gov­er­nor Inslee has been an inspi­ra­tion for mil­lions of Amer­i­cans that we can defeat cli­mate change, advance envi­ron­men­tal jus­tice, and cre­ate mil­lions of clean ener­gy jobs.

His cam­paign for pres­i­dent set the bar for cli­mate pol­i­cy and cre­at­ed an open-source gold stan­dard cli­mate plan that became a mod­el for Pres­i­dent Biden’s plan and is reflect­ed through­out the Infla­tion Reduc­tion Act. In his cli­mate plan and his lead­er­ship as gov­er­nor, Gov­er­nor Inslee laid out a clear vision for a clean ener­gy future built on stan­dards, invest­ment and jus­tice, which con­tin­ues to shape cli­mate poli­cies at the fed­er­al, state, and local level.

Gov­er­nor Inslee’s vision and detailed plans also inspired the cre­ation of Ever­green Action and count­less oth­er cli­mate lead­ers across the nation and the world. We look for­ward to see­ing his con­tin­ued lead­er­ship in Wash­ing­ton state over the next eigh­teen months, his ongo­ing nation­al and inter­na­tion­al lead­er­ship on cli­mate, and the impact of his work for gen­er­a­tions to come. Gov­er­nor Inslee is right: This is our moment to defeat cli­mate change.

Ore­gon Gov­er­nor Tina Kotek:

Thank you, Gov­er­nor Inslee, for your years of pub­lic ser­vice and strong lead­er­ship. Wash­ing­ton and Ore­gon are great part­ners, and I’m ready to keep our momen­tum going for the next year and half!

British Colum­bia Pre­mier David Eby:

Thank you, Gov­er­nor Inslee, for all the work you have done, espe­cial­ly your lead­er­ship on cli­mate change. It has been a priv­i­lege to work with you to make BC and Wash­ing­ton bet­ter places for every­one. All your friends in BC wish you well, and I look for­ward to con­tin­ue strength­en­ing our rela­tion­ship with Wash­ing­ton state.

Attor­ney Gen­er­al Bob Ferguson:

It has been a priv­i­lege to work with you to stand up to the Trump Admin­is­tra­tion, pro­tect women’s repro­duc­tive free­dom, defend immi­grants, get assault weapons off our streets, pro­tect our air and water, elim­i­nate the death penal­ty, and advo­cate for our vet­er­ans. I look for­ward to con­tin­u­ing that part­ner­ship tak­ing on the tough­est fights on behalf of every Wash­ing­ton­ian for the next eigh­teen months!

Com­mis­sion­er of Pub­lic Lands Hilary Franz:

When it comes to fight­ing the cli­mate cri­sis, Gov­er­nor Inslee
has been a pow­er­ful force for change. I’m grate­ful for the steps he’s tak­en to help us pre­serve Washington’s lands and waters.

King Coun­ty Exec­u­tive Dow Con­stan­tine:

Gov­er­nor Inslee has done great work for the peo­ple of Wash­ing­ton, and has led the nation in the fight against the cli­mate cri­sis. I look for­ward to work­ing with the Gov­er­nor and his team over the next year as we con­tin­ue to build a coun­ty and state where every per­son can thrive.

Seat­tle May­or Bruce Har­rell:

Thank you Gov­er­nor Inslee for your years of ded­i­cat­ed ser­vice to Wash­ing­ton and its residents.

From bold action on the cli­mate cri­sis, cham­pi­oning com­mon­sense gun leg­is­la­tion, and sup­port­ing an ever inno­v­a­tive econ­o­my, your lead­er­ship has helped build a stronger state for us all.

Uni­ver­si­ty of Wash­ing­ton Pres­i­dent Ana Marie Cauce:

Thank you, Gov­er­nor Inslee, for your ser­vice to Wash­ing­ton and your lead­er­ship through the pan­dem­ic, strong sup­port for cli­mate and clean ener­gy, invest­ments in behav­ioral health and cham­pi­oning of high­er edu­ca­tion. We are so proud to call you a Husky alum.

U.S. Rep­re­sen­ta­tive Mar­i­lyn Strick­land:

I’m so grate­ful to Gov­er­nor Inslee for his years of pub­lic ser­vice. He has been a cham­pi­on for grow­ing our econ­o­my, cre­at­ing good jobs, and address­ing the cli­mate cri­sis. I look for­ward to con­tin­u­ing to work with him dur­ing the remain­der of his term to deliv­er for the South Sound.

Mean­while, Wash­ing­ton State Repub­li­can Par­ty Chair Caleb Heim­lich — who was unable to defeat Inslee — had noth­ing to offer but bit­ter­ness and scorn:

It’s time to turn the page on the dis­as­trous Inslee era in Wash­ing­ton State. For over a decade, Gov­er­nor Inslee has tak­en our state in the wrong direc­tion. His deci­sion to not seek a fourth term presents an oppor­tu­ni­ty to elect a Repub­li­can gov­er­nor who will put Wash­ing­to­ni­ans first and pri­or­i­tize the needs of our communities.

Of course, had Inslee decid­ed dif­fer­ent­ly, Heim­lich would have prob­a­bly said about the same thing. Just get rid of the word “not” from that sec­ond sentence:

His deci­sion to seek a fourth term presents an oppor­tu­ni­ty to elect a Repub­li­can gov­er­nor who will put Wash­ing­to­ni­ans first and pri­or­i­tize the needs of our communities.

Heads there’s an oppor­tu­ni­ty, tails there’s an oppor­tu­ni­ty… a slim opportunity.

The last Repub­li­can gov­er­nor to be elect­ed in Wash­ing­ton State was John Spell­man in 1980, more than forty years ago. Wash­ing­ton State Repub­li­cans own the longest guber­na­to­r­i­al los­ing streak in the coun­try, and that’s not like­ly to change in 2024, no mat­ter how fer­vent­ly they pre­tend otherwise.

Desir­able recruits like Pierce Coun­ty Exec­u­tive Bruce Dammeier aren’t even inter­est­ed in run­ning — they don’t want to have to deal with the rabid, right wing, Don­ald Trump wor­ship­ing Repub­li­can base. Repub­li­cans have no statewide elect­ed offi­cials and only two seats in Con­gress, so their bench is incred­i­bly thin.