The huge field of Democratic candidates seeking the presidency is growing smaller. It had to. But we regret the departure of Jay Inslee because it almost silences the message he was trying to deliver.

Inslee campaigned on reversing climate change. The signs are becoming more obvious that some kind of permanent change may be coming to our environment.

He has led a strong effort on this topic as governor of Washington and hoped to take it to the national level. As his campaign website stated: “As Americans, this is our moment to act on climate change and to invest in a clean energy economy that will grow millions of jobs in communities across the country … defeating climate change is the defining challenge of our time … it must be the foremost priority for the next president. Devastating disasters and rising pollution have claimed lives, cost the economy billions and threatened the places Americans live, work and raise families.”

He said another true thing: &...