For the second time in as many nights, it took CNN commentators well over an hour to get to a climate question at Wednesday night’s Democratic presidential debate. But that question appropriately went to Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, the candidate who has centered his campaign on tackling the global crisis. Inslee, 68, said the U.S. needs a bold plan to rapidly cut planet-warming greenhouse gases and that “middle ground solutions” like the one former Vice President Joe Biden unveiled in May, “are not going to save us.” “Too little, too late is too dangerous,” Inslee said.

Lucas Jackson / Reuters Washington Gov. Jay Inslee speaks on the second night of the second 2020 Democratic presidential debate in Detroit.

In May, Inslee’s campaign put out its first policy memo, a detailed plan to shutter all coal plants and generate 100% of the United States’ electricity from renewables in roughly a decade. Weeks later, he released the “Evergreen Economy Plan,” a 15,000-word opus blueprinting how to direct $9 trillion to eliminate a huge chunk of U.S. emissions by 2030, create 8 million jobs and revitalize unions. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), the most visible climate champion in Congress right now, dubbed the plan the “gold standard” for a Green New Deal. Biden came under fire from Green New Deal proponents after Reuters reported in May that he was eyeing a “middle ground” climate policy that maintained a future for fossil fuels. Biden released the long-awaited plan weeks later, which includes the U.S. rejoining the Paris climate accord, achieving net-zero emissions by 2050 and investing $400 billion in clean energy research. “There is no middle ground about my plan,” Biden swung back on Wednesday.

"Middle-ground solutions, like the Vice President has proposed ... are not going to save us." Gov. Jay Inslee explains why fighting the climate crisis is his top priority. #DemDebatehttps://t.co/FNcIRdHoQppic.twitter.com/aBZhNXBN0l — CNN (@CNN) August 1, 2019