Jay Inslee (D-WA-Governor)

Congressman Jay Inslee

Rep. Jay Inslee is resigning from Congress to focus full time on running for Governor of Washington state this fall. His resignation is effective March 20, 2012. He will leave the citizens of the first District without a Representative, until the November election, while he runs for a new office.

Jay R. Inslee

Campaign links: Jay Inslee (D-WA-Governor)

House links: Jay R. Inslee (D-WA-1)i

House links will expire right after the Congressman leaves office.

 

Jay Inslee Gubernatorial Candidate State of Washington

 

Biography of Jay Inslee from Jay Inslee for Washington

Jay Inslee is a fifth generation Washingtonian, born in 1951 to Frank, a biology teacher at Garfield and Sealth high schools, and Adele, who worked as a sales clerk at Sears and Roebuck. Jay grew up in White Center. He played competitive sports, and after graduating from Ingraham High School, married his high school sweetheart, Trudi. Jay and Trudi then spent nearly 20 years working and raising their three sons in the Yakima Valley.

Jay first got into public service to fight for a new public high school in Selah in 1985. He then went on to represent the 14th legislative district in the state House of Representatives and in 1992 was elected to Congress from Eastern Washington. Jay later moved back to the Puget Sound area and was elected to Congress in 1998 where he still serves today.

Having lived on both sides of the Cascades, Jay understands the economic frustrations facing families all across Washington State. He’s worked several jobs in his life, from driving cement trucks, running jackhammers and painting houses, to prosecuting criminals and drunk drivers, and teaching at a community college. He has a profound respect for all work and all workers.

An independent leader who fights for working families

In Congress, Jay is known as a forward-thinking leader who stands up for people, even if it means bucking his own party. His record reflects an independent-minded approach and a thoughtful foresight about the future global economy.

More than a decade ago, when Congress took the first steps toward our economic calamity by deregulating the banks and eliminating safeguards that had been in place since the Depression, Inslee was one of the few who voted no.

When our nation’s leaders dragged America into an unnecessary and costly war in Iraq based on false claims, Inslee resisted the political pressure and opposed going to war.

In the midst of our economic crisis in 2008, Congress was pressured into passing an $800 billion bailout of the big banks at taxpayer expense. Inslee again bucked his party leadership and voted no on the bailout.

And long before others recognized the job-creation potential of the clean energy industry, Jay was working to convince our nation’s leaders that we could be the ones leading in this new economic frontier and putting thousands of people to work in good-paying jobs.

A national leader in clean energy and working to create jobs

Jay co-wrote a book called “Apollo’s Fire: Igniting America’s Clean-Energy Economy” and is a recognized leader on clean energy and the job-creation potential it holds. He’s fought for investments in innovative energy sources such as biofuels, solar, and wind, and has helped businesses across Washington produce and consume clean energy, creating jobs here at home.

Over the last 20 years, while living and representing people on both sides of the Cascades, Jay has worked successfully to open up trade opportunities for Washington apples, and helped protect Boeing workers by writing the amendment that required a fair playing field with foreign competition for the recent Air Force tanker contract.

As governor, Jay will provide visionary leadership that not only strengthens our current industries, but also grows a new economy based on the clean-energy jobs of the future.

Jay holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Washington and earned his law degree from Willamette University.

 

Biography of Jay Inslee from House.gov

 

Raised on the shores of Puget Sound, Jay Inslee comes from a long line of Washingtonians. His father Frank was a biology teacher and athletic coordinator, his mother Adele a homemaker and artist, and together they oversaw the Student Conservation Association at Mt. Rainier National Park. Jay would go on to begin his own public service as a State legislator and prosecutor in Selah, WA.

He’s represented Washington State at the federal level for more than a decade – as representative for the 4th Congressional District from 1992-1994 and the 1st Congressional District since 1999 – writing and sponsoring legislation to create jobs in the new clean energy economy, reform health care, protect our environment, and expand access to high speed communications.

Jay fought to restore protections for national forests and led a successful campaign in the House to keep limits on oil-tanker traffic in Puget Sound. Since 2005, Jay has used his seat on the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee to promote his vision for a clean energy future, the New Apollo Energy Act, and to advance other legislation that would reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. In March 2007, he was appointed to the 15-member Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. And in 2008, Jay co-authored, with Bracken Hendricks, Apollo’s Fire, Igniting America’s Clean-Energy Economy.

Jay has used a common-sense approach in Congress to help expand Washington State’s high-tech economy, promote privacy protections for American consumers, strengthen Social Security and Medicare and provide more resources for veterans and port security. This same approach prompted Speaker Nancy Pelosi in July of 2009 to ask Jay to play a key role in negotiating a solution to the Medicare reimbursement inequities Washington State patients and health care providers have faced for decades. The compromise Jay helped lead became part of the health care reform legislation which the House passed in 2009.

He supported the original war in Afghanistan to root out the Taliban and the terrorist networks they supported. Jay voted against, and has been an outspoken critic, of the invasion of Iraq and our subsequent policies there.

Jay holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Washington and earned his law degree from Willamette University. He’s been married to his high-school sweetheart, Trudi, since 1972. The couple have three grown children – Jack, Connor and Joe. In November 2008, Jack and his wife Megan welcomed the birth of their son, and Jay’s first grandchild, Brody Inslee.

 

2012 committee assignments and activities:

House Energy and Commerce Committee
Subcommittee on Energy and Power

Co-Chair and Founder of Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition