SEATTLE – Washington Governor Jay Inslee announced his bid for a third term as governor Thursday, saying that while it was an honor to run for president, he wants to continue his work leading the state. 
 
“We told the Washington story around the United States,” he told reporters in Seattle following a news conference at Planned Parenthood regarding the Title X family planning program. “Being able to tell that story led to some good things, even though I won’t be the nominee, including the fact that we have elevated the climate change crisis to where it belongs. I’m very proud to have served for that purpose.” 
 
Inslee had sent an email to supporters earlier in the day detailing his plans following his announcement Wednesday night that he was ending his 2020 presidential bid after nearly six months. 
 
He had made fighting climate change the central theme of his campaign and said he was confident that Democrats would select a nominee who would champion climate change issues. 

Not interested in Cabinet job
 
When asked if he would consider a Cabinet position like head of the Environmental Protection Agency if it were offered, he said no. 
 
“There was one position in Washington, D.C., that I thought I was interested in, and I will not be serving in that capacity,” he said. “So I’m looking forward to serving as governor if people give me this option.” 
 
Governors in Washington state aren’t subject to term limits, though most haven’t served more than two terms. The last three-term governor in Washington was Republican Dan Evans, who served from 1965 until 1977. 
 

Three Democrats had already signaled they would run for governor, but only if Inslee didn’t: Attorney General Bob Ferguson, Commissioner of Public Lands Hilary Franz and King County Executive Dow Constantine. The political dominoes continued with Democratic candidates lining up to run for attorney general and lands commissioner if Ferguson and Franz ended up not seeking re-election to their posts. All have said they wouldn’t challenge incumbents if Inslee ran for a third term. 
 
Franz said Wednesday night that she was not disappointed about not entering the governor’s race, saying that she loved her current job and would seek re-election because she had “a lot of work to do.” Ferguson, who had already said he would seek re-election to a third term as attorney general if Inslee ran again, was at the Seattle event Thursday, as was Constantine. 
 
Ferguson said he wasn’t disappointed by Inslee’s decision, saying “he’s earned the right to run for a third term.” 

Republican candidates
 
A few Republicans have already announced plans to run for governor, including Phil Fortunato, a state senator, and Loren Culp, the police chief of Republic, in eastern Washington. A Republican has not occupied the governor’s office in more than three decades. 
 
State Republican Party Chairman Caleb Heimlich said he thought Inslee could be vulnerable in a re-election bid. 
 
“Getting elected to a third term is a tough task,” he said. “And doing so on the heels of a failed presidential campaign where you sent a message to voters that you want a different job, that doesn’t sit very well.” 
 
When asked what he thought about the Republican candidates, Inslee responded, “I don’t think about them.” 
 
Inslee, 68, became the third Democrat to end his presidential bid. U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell of California pulled out of the race last month, and former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper left last week. 
 
While Inslee had qualified for the first two presidential debates this summer, he struggled to gain traction in the crowded Democratic field and was falling short of the requirements needed to appear on two high-profile stages next month: the third DNC debate in Houston and a CNN town hall focused on climate change, Inslee’s key issue. 
 
He had recently hit one of the markers — 130,000 unique donors. But he had yet to reach 2% in any poll and would have needed to hit that level of support in four qualifying polls. 

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The White House on Thursday abandoned its fight with Congress over whether to fund $4 billion in foreign aid and will allow the money to be spent. 
 
U.S. President Donald Trump had considered cutting the spending on the ground that it was wasteful and unnecessary, but he retreated when it became apparent that some key lawmakers were opposed. 
 
“The president has been clear that there is waste and abuse in our foreign assistance, and we need to be wise about where U.S. money is going,” a senior White House official told VOA, “which is why he asked his administration to look into options to doing just that.” 
 
But after both Republican and Democratic lawmakers objected to the White House effort to freeze the foreign aid already approved by Congress, the Trump administration gave in. 
 
“It’s clear that there are many [in Congress] who aren’t willing to join in curbing wasteful spending,” the White House official said. 
 
Some of Trump’s top budget-cutters wanted him to trim the foreign aid as a show of fiscal restraint after Trump recently signed a two-year, $2.7 trillion spending plan. 
 
But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, who oversees the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, said that withholding the money would have violated “the good faith” of reaching agreement on the long-term budget.   

Two Republicans, Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Representative Hal Rogers of Kentucky, said freezing the foreign aid spending would hurt “significant” national security and counterterrorism efforts while also complicating spending negotiations between the White House and Congress in the future. 
 
Trump had expressed some ambivalence about the funding. 
 
“We give billions and billions of dollars to countries that don’t like us — don’t like us even a little bit,” the president told reporters last weekend. “And I’ve been cutting that. And we just put a package of about 4 billion additional dollars in. And in some cases, you know, in some cases, I could see it both ways. In some cases, these are countries that we should not be giving to.” 

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SAN FRANCISCO — Democratic Party leaders are arguing over whether to hold a presidential primary debate exclusively on the climate crisis.  
  
Hundreds of activists were at the Democratic National Committee’s summer meeting Thursday in California, where an influential party committee was discussing the matter.  
  
But Chairman Tom Perez shows no signs of rewriting the debate rules months into the campaign.  
  
Perez opposes single-issue debates with multiple candidates on stage at the same time.  The DNC instead has encouraged other groups to hold issue-based forums where candidates appear one at a time. Activists say that approach hasn’t gotten climate policy enough attention.  
  
The meeting came a day after Washington Gov. Jay Inslee ended his presidential bid after failing to gain enough support for his pledge to make climate action the nation’s top priority. 

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The controversy over U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly postponing his trip to Copenhagen continues, as he criticized Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, calling her “nasty” and “inappropriate.” The Danish leader had rebuffed Trump’s overture to buy Greenland, the Arctic country that is part of the kingdom of Denmark. White House correspondent Patsy Widakuswara has the story.

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