While Inslee has said many times he plans to serve his full term as governor, many think it would be hard for him to turn down a job serving under a new Democratic president — especially one that involves combating climate change, one of Inslee’s core issues.
“While he’s stated that he loves Washington, wants to be near his grandchildren, and feels he has unfinished work here, I believe his core concerns around the environment and his desire to make an impact on the largest stage possible would make a cabinet post hard to turn down,” political science professor Vernon Johnson wrote in an email. Johnson directs the Ralph Munro Center for Civic Education at Western Washington University.
Biden announced last week that former Secretary of State John Kerry would serve as a special presidential envoy on climate, which will involve sitting on the National Security Council. But there are other climate-focused jobs Biden has yet to fill.
Should Inslee accept a federal job, it would set off a chain reaction in Washington state politics, starting with a temporary replacement — followed by a field of people jockeying to replace Inslee permanently.
Who fills in?
The state constitution is clear: Should Washington’s governor vacate his office in the middle of his term, the lieutenant governor takes over.
Starting in January, that will be U.S. Rep. Denny Heck, D-Olympia, who recently won election to the lieutenant governor’s office. Heck, 68, is retiring from Congress at the end of this year.
This arrangement would be a temporary one, however. A vacancy in the governor’s office would trigger a special election to decide who will replace Inslee on a more permanent basis. Heck has said he isn’t interested in the job long term and would return to the post of lieutenant governor after a permanent replacement is elected.
When would a new governor be elected?
If Inslee quits before mid-May, when candidates in Washington state begin filing to run for office, the special election to replace him would be held in November 2021. If he resigns after candidate filing week begins in May, the timing of the special election is less clear, said Kylee Zabel, a spokesperson for Washington’s Office of the Secretary of State. Zabel said the secretary of state’s office and the state attorney general “are conferring on that hypothetical scenario” right now.
Whenever the special election occurs, whoever wins would serve the remainder of Inslee’s four-year term, which runs through January 2025.
What are Inslee’s chances?
Aseem Prakash, a political science professor at the University of Washington, said the selection of Inslee for a cabinet post or cabinet-level role is within the realm of possibility.
Prakash, the founding director of the UW’s Center for Environmental Politics, said he thinks EPA administrator…
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