With the Democratic primary race in full swing, we've learned more about where the 2020 presidential election candidates stand on the issues — but who are these people really? Shondaland.com wanted to find out, so, with a questionnaire crafted by Shonda Rhimes herself, we reached out to every Democratic candidate who has announced their candidacy and asked them all the exact same questions. From what inspires them, to their favorite dance-floor jam to, of course, what they're planning to do in office, here's an opportunity to get to know your Democratic presidential hopefuls a little deeper.

Candidate: Jay Inslee

Current Office: Governor of Washington State (since 2013)

You've Probably Heard That:

Inslee is often referred to as a "single-issue candidate": That issue is securing a human future on this planet. "If we don't solve climate change, we won't be around to solve anything else," he has said. "I believe, when you've got one shot, you take it."

Inslee is a fifth-generation Washingtonian. His dad was a high school teacher and football coach who later became the athletic director of Seattle Public Schools.

He attended Stanford, but left after a year because he couldn't afford the tuition. Inslee finished his undergraduate studies at the University of Washington and went on to get a law degree.

While living in the small town of Selah, where he worked as a city prosecutor, Inslee and his wife Trudi got involved in a push to get a new public high school built. After they took their advocacy to the state legislature and secured the school, Trudi suggested her husband run for a seat. Three years later he did and won against a Republican former mayor in a Republican district.

Inslee went on to serve as a U.S. Representative from Washington, from 1993 – 1995 and again from 1999 – 2012. Analysts believe Inslee lost his seat between those two terms because in 1994 he voted for a combat-style assault weapons ban; he was then heavily targeted by the NRA. "In the end, I just thought Congress has to show the gumption to stand up for our law-enforcement officers," he said. "It didn't make sense to let them be outgunned on the streets."

On the National Level:

One Key Issue He's Pushing Forward Right Now: Inslee is currently promoting a major climate change proposal, which he says would "cut climate pollution in half by 2030 and achieve net-zero pollution by mid-century."



Ahead, more about the candidate, in his own words.



When you made the decision to run for president, who is the first person you told?

My wife Trudi and I made the decision together to run for president, so the first person we told was my campaign manager, Aisling Kerins.

What do you do to take care of yourself? How do you unwind?

I try to ride my bike whenever I can, and I also have three energetic grandkids who help keep me active.

What book (not including the Bible) has influenced you most?

by David Wallace-Wells.

Who inspires you? Why?

I’ve had the good fortune to meet a lot of inspiring people during my career in public service, from business owners helping to build our clean energy future, to veterans transitioning from the military back into civilian life, to undocumented immigrants going to college in our state because we passed legislation to ensure they would have access to state financial aid. But I'm particularly inspired these days by Alexandria Villaseñor, a young woman who was inspired by her experience in 2018's Camp Fire in California to become an international leader forcing the world to confront the urgency of defeating climate change. I was proud to join her at Columbia University in New York for the U.S. Youth Climate Strike earlier this year, in May for a strike event at the United Nations, and to have her at the announcement of my Evergreen Economy Plan for building a clean energy economy. More world leaders should be listening to Alexandria and students like her.

What are the most urgent issues facing women in America right now?

There's no question that the right to reproductive freedom is under as grave a threat as has existed since Roe v. Wade was decided. I believe women everywhere need the right to choose an abortion, regardless of what their zip code is. Quite frankly, I'm mad as hell about state bans on abortion being pushed by men who have no business making these decisions for women.

Women need more access to healthcare and abortion, and that’s why I signed the Reproductive Parity Act, ensuring that health insurance covers abortion as a part of maternity care. It also ensures that all forms of birth control, including emergency contraception, are covered without out-of-pocket costs. That's the law in Washington state, and it should be the law nationwide as well. As president, I will fight to enshrine the right to an abortion as a civil right. And because no justices should be appointed who will overturn the right to an abortion, I will be particularly attentive to determining whether I can be highly confident that a prospective Supreme Court nominee will respect a woman's right to reproductive freedom.

I've fought for abortion rights throughout my career. In addition to signing the Reproductive Parity Act, our state successfully sued against Donald Trump's attack on Title X funding and Planned Parenthood and stopped his effort to create a "gag" rule on abortion. I'm also the only candidate to have both voted for and implemented Obamacare, which extended health insurance coverage that included maternity care to over 650,000 people through Medicaid expansion in my state. And as a member of Congress, I voted against the Hyde Amendment to block federal funding of abortions, against efforts to deny abortion coverage and access to federal employees and members of the military, and against the global gag rule. We should be making it easier for women to get the care that they need, not harder.

I also know that every employee deserves to be fairly compensated for their work, and that discrimination against workers disproportionately impacts women. That’s why I support raising the minimum wage to at least $15/hour by 2024, and why we need to expand collective bargaining and strongly enforce labor laws in every sector of the economy. I’m also very proud to have signed Washington state’s first major pay equity legislation in over 70 years, protecting those who share salary and benefit information so that workers, and especially women, have the information and opportunity necessary to bargain for better pay. This year, I also signed a law requiring disclosure of salary information by employers for listed positions and barring employers from asking for salary history. These policies are a model for the nation for how we can build on the progress of the Lily Ledbetter Act, which I was proud to vote for, and once and for all eliminate the gender gap in pay.

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What have you already done to improve the lives of poor and middle income Americans?

Health care is a right for all Americans, but for decades health care and insurance coverage has grown farther and farther out of reach for most families. I’m the only candidate in this race who has both voted for and implemented Obamacare, which provides insurance to over 800,000 people in my state. Because of our implementation of Obamacare we've seen our uninsured rate plummet from 14 percent to 5.5 percent — but we're not finished, in my state or in America, when it comes to providing everyone with the healthcare coverage they need. That's why this year, I signed into law the nation's first public health care option, which will allow every Washingtonian to enroll starting in 2021, regardless of income, and could reduce coverage costs up to 10 percent.

I'm also proud of what we've done to make a quality education available to everyone. This year, I signed into law one of the strongest college financial aid programs in America. Free or subsidized college will be available to 110,000 students from families in need, covering both tuition and fees to go to college, and we will clear the waitlists for financial aid in our state. We've also taken action to eliminate institutional racism and other barriers to educational opportunity, close the opportunity gap, and include educational outcomes for homeless students.

Finally, I'm proud of the fact that Washington state has the nation's best policies to help care for everyone, especially children and families. In 2017, I signed into law the nation's best Paid Family and Medical Leave program, which provides between 12-18 weeks of paid leave to care for yourself, a sick loved one, or to bond with a newborn child. This year, I signed into law the nation's first publicly-funded long-term care benefit, which will assist with the costs of aging or with family members of any age who require long-term care.

How do we improve the public education system so every child gets a great education regardless of income?

Every student deserves the best public school education possible so that they can fulfill their potential and follow their dreams. No one should have less educational opportunity because of race, gender, or disability, or because of the zip code that they might live in. I am so proud of the unprecedented investments we've made in education in my state. For the first time in over 30 years, K-12 education represents 50 percent of Washington state's near-general fund budget thanks to the over $9 billion invested by budgets that I have signed. I signed a budget that fully funded all-day kindergarten, which had been chronically underfunded, and we reduced class sizes for K-3 class sizes.

I'll work as president to achieve the same success for students and educators across America as we have in Washington state. We'll fully fund programs for students with disabilities, expand early education as I have done as governor by adding 48,000 new early education students, invest in educator salaries and ensure that educators, like all workers, receive equal pay for equal work. And I will oppose appropriating public money to charter schools because we must have local public oversight and accountability of our schools, and we must ensure our public schools are all that they can be.

What is your comfort food?

Washington apples – no question.

Other than God and the Constitution, what do you believe in?

I believe fundamentally in the American people, and their boundless capacity to rise to the challenge — as we did during the Great Depression, as we did during World War II, and as we did in building the world's strongest middle class. I believe that meeting the challenge of climate change can unleash the innovation and determination of the American people to build a clean energy economy that will result in 8 million good jobs and renew the engine of our economy for the 21st century.

What's the issue/action in your past that the press and/or opposition is going to be (or has been) hardest on you about? What has this issue taught you, and how has it changed how you handle things moving forward?

I've fought hard during my time as governor to put a price on carbon in Washington state – and we haven't been able to get that across the finish line due to tens of millions of dollars spent by fossil fuel companies determined to distort the truth for voters. But what I've learned is that perseverance is the most plentiful renewable energy source. This year, our perseverance paid off when I was able to sign the nation's most comprehensive suite of clean energy legislation: the strongest 100 percent clean electricity legislation that eliminates coal-fired electricity from our grid by 2025, a ban on super-pollutants, new building and appliance energy efficiency standards, and a ban on fracking. These were enormous victories that wouldn't have been possible without the dogged determination of advocates and citizens who insisted that we lead the country on defeating climate change, and elected officials who listened and were committed to getting the job done. And in my campaign for president, we've proposed plans to defeat climate change that builds on this progress by using the whole toolbox of federal authority, new standards, and investments of the scale that the science demands to meet the urgent challenge of climate change and realize the promise of a clean energy economy.

Jay Inslee visiting the California wildfires Mel Melcon Getty Images

What most concerns you about America's current position in the world?

America is the nation that put human beings on the Moon and mobilized to defeat fascism during World War II. That's why I'm so disturbed to see President Trump abandoning our historical leadership role — on working with our allies, on welcoming immigrants and refugees into our society, and on leading the world in defeating climate change and building a clean energy future. When Donald Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accords, I co-founded the U.S. Climate Alliance with Governor Andrew Cuomo of New York and then-Governor Jerry Brown of California to demonstrate that America's states could and would keep our commitment to reduce emissions, even if the Trump administration refused to. Today, the U.S. Climate Alliance counts governors from 24 states and Puerto Rico as members, including three Republicans, representing over half of our population and much of our economic production. It's an example of the fundamental disagreement that I have with Donald Trump, who has a worldview that says America can only succeed if another country loses. Where he is a pessimist, I am an optimist, and I know that America wins when we work with our allies and other countries to build a safer, most prosperous future — as we must do to defeat climate change.

What is your proudest political accomplishment? Proudest personal accomplishment?

One of the proudest accomplishments of my career in public office was this year’s passage of our 100 percent clean energy bill in Washington state. Thanks to this bill, Washington state will be off coal-generated electricity by 2025, and the power on our grid will be 100 percent clean by 2045. It's America's best 100 percent clean standard, and it's progress like this that makes me confident that we can do this across America. I'm also proud that Washington state had the nation's highest increase in public school teacher salary in the last year — a 31 percent jump — and bringing our average teacher salary up from $55,000 to $73,000. As a result, Washington state's average annual teacher pay is now estimated to have increased from 23rd in the nation to 6th in the country.

Who do you look up to?

My wife Trudi, and the educators in my family: my late father Frank, who was a biology teacher and counselor, as well as my brother, brother-in-law, and sister-in-law, all of whom are retired educators.

What did you want to be when you grew up? What called you to a life of political service?

I wanted to be a doctor! But that didn't quite work out, and I ended up getting my start in politics thanks to the issue of education. When Trudi and I lived in Selah, a town in central Washington, we fought to pass a bond for construction of a new high school that had failed repeatedly. I was chair of the bond committee, and we got that bond passed, and that got me hooked on politics.

What would you do to improve the current immigration policies?

America is a nation of immigrants, and in Washington state, one out of every seven residents is an immigrant. Our communities and our economy are strong precisely because of the diversity that immigrants bring, and as governor of a border state, I see this every day. In fact, it's my honor to spend every July 4th that I can attending naturalization ceremonies for immigrants taking the oath to become citizens of the United States.

That's why the policies of the Trump administration are so abhorrent to me. I was proud to be the first governor to stand up against Trump's Muslim ban. I also welcomed Syrian refugees when other governors succumbed to fear. In 2014, I signed a law that made undocumented immigrants eligible for state financial aid to attend college. When the Trump administration targeted undocumented persons through its cruel enforcement policies, I signed an executive order that instructed our state agencies not to cooperate. And we also provided hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal aid to help families fight Donald Trump's outrageous family-separation policy. And this May, I signed the Keep Washington Working Act that will protect immigrants in our state from the Trump administration's targeted deportation efforts at schools, hospitals, courts, and shelters, and prevents our state and local law enforcement from being complicit in the effort to break up immigrant families.

America's immigration system is badly in need of an overhaul, and as president, I will see that we get it. I will end the counterproductive cruelty of the Trump administration and ensure that our immigration system is humane, just, and efficient. I support immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for all undocumented persons, including those on deferred or temporary-protected status. I will end Trump's vain pursuit of a wall. My administration will reform the artificially-low caps placed on refugees, restore programs that ensure asylum seekers are efficiently screened and heard. And I will restore foreign assistance funding to nations that are the source of many recent immigrants and asylum seekers, especially children and whole families fleeing persecution in their home countries.

The current administration has rolled back or eliminated many policies that support safe, fair and dignified work and educational environments for a majority of Americans (including LGBTQ, people of color, differently abled, women, the poor). As president, what policies would you work to reinstate?

There's no place for hate and discrimination in America, and certainly not in the White House. But this administration has done everything possible to create fear and uncertainty for LGBTQ Americans, whether by supporting discriminatory so-called "religious freedom" laws, banning transgender persons from serving their country in the armed forces, or discriminating against LGBTQ people as they seek to simply live, work, or start families as they see fit. In Washington state, we've protected and expanded the rights of our LGBTQ community. We've banned conversion therapy, created birth certificates that allow for accurate representation of people's gender identity, and I ensured that no Washington state employee would travel to a state with discriminatory "religious freedom" laws for anything other than essential business. Gender identity and sexual orientation are also protected under our state's civil rights laws, and as president, I would ensure the same is true across America by signing the Equality Act.

We must also strengthen the right of workers to organize so that we can restore the power of workers in our economy, which the Trump Administration has done everything possible to undermine. This is a top priority for me because I see every day in Washington state, which has the third-highest share of union representation in America, how strong unions empower workers and level the economic playing field for them in an economy that has been increasingly tilted in the favor of CEOs and corporations. That's why my Evergreen Economy Plan includes repealing the federal law that makes "right-to-work" states possible, expands the tools for union organizing, provides paycheck transparency to help ensure women receive equal pay for equal work, and limits "no-poach" and non-compete agreements that restrict worker mobility.

The current administration is also going in the wrong direction when it comes to ensuring our schools are as safe as possible from the threat of violence, and particularly gun violence. Last year, I delivered that message directly to President Trump at the White House, where I confronted him about his determination to arm teachers by urging him to do more listening to educators who want to do their jobs without fear of violence and less tweeting to earn the favor of the gun lobby. When I'm president, that foolishness will end immediately. Instead, we'll listen to teachers and students, which is exactly what we've done in Washington state. This year, I signed legislation that allows for Extreme Risk Protection Orders to be applied to people under the age of 18, so that families and law enforcement can seek an order requiring safe storage of firearms within the home of a child threatening to harm themselves or others. That's an example of the right way to keep our students and teachers safe, rather than asking educators to double as armed guards or expecting our children to sacrifice their lives to save their fellow students.

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How will you combat climate change?

I am the only candidate for president who has committed to make defeating climate change America's number one priority, and as president, I'll work with Congress to advance ambitious legislation to defeat climate change and make the investments to build America's clean energy economy. My administration will lead a full national mobilization of across federal, state, local, and tribal governments, and I've proposed the most ambitious and detailed plans to do so.

My 100% Clean Energy for America Plan will achieve 100 percent clean electricity, 100 percent zero-emission new vehicles and 100 percent zero-carbon new buildings. And my Evergreen Economy Plan will create 8 million new jobs over 10 years with family-supporting wages and benefits by retrofitting our buildings, leading the world in clean manufacturing, and investing in agriculture innovation. We can do this, and we must, because this is our last chance to prevent the most destructive impacts of climate change. And when you have one last chance, you take it.

Brianna Ellis-Mitchell

When you need to dance it out, what is the song you listen to?

Born to Be Wild by Steppenwolf.

Who is your "political bestie"? I know you work incredibly hard but which elected official do you enjoy hanging out with the most?

Ted Strickland, the former governor of Ohio and my former roommate when we both served in Congress.

What is America doing right? What makes you hopeful?

It's in the basic American character that we are a can-do, optimistic people. Americans have the capability of rallying to meet great challenges, as we did when we confronted fascism and the Great Depression, and as we did when President Kennedy set a goal of going to the Moon. I believe all the American people need to do the same thing today is a president in the White House who shares their optimism and determination. I’m inspired every day by the countless young people who are getting engaged in our democracy, starting climate strikes, and organizing their fellow children, adults, and leaders around the world to give them a shot at saving their future from climate change. They give me hope, and I'll be the president that they deserve.

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