(Updates with interview with Inslee)
By Sharon Bernstein and Ginger Gibson
SEATTLE/WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) - Washington Governor Jay Inslee launched a longshot bid for the U.S. presidency on Friday with a vow to fight climate change and promote policies to make the country more prosperous and inclusive.
Speaking in Seattle in the chilly garage of a solar energy company, Inslee became the first governor to join the crowded field of Democrats vying for the party's White House nomination in 2020, a race expected to be volatile and hard-fought as the winner faces off against Trump.
"I am running for president because, unlike the man who is in the White House, I believe in all the people who make up America," Inslee, who regularly swipes at Trump on Twitter, said to cheers.
The governor and former congressman has made fighting climate change the centerpiece of his campaign, saying in an interview with Reuters on Friday that the effort will help improve America's economy and health while also preserving the planet.
"You can't have a healthy economy if your towns are burning down," said Inslee, who recently visited the devastation left by climate-fueled wildfires in California. "You can't have national security without solving this problem."
At a rooftop restaurant above a bustling new Seattle technology and business corridor, Inslee, 68, said his commitments to the environment and social inclusion had made Washington prosperous - and would do the same at the national level.
If elected, he said, he would support policies similar to those he pushed in Washington state - aiming toward an energy grid free of fossil fuels, construction of energy-efficient buildings, and incentives for individuals as well as large organizations to buy electric vehicles.
Inslee enters the race as the only governor in a field of senators, a background that he says has forced him to learn to work on both sides of the aisle.
On some issues, he brings a moderate approach, and he is viewed as mostly business-friendly. While he believes all Americans should have access to good healthcare, he has not endorsed or rejected government-funded insurance, known as Medicare-for-all. In the interview, Inslee said he was still studying the best ways to provide healthcare, including expanding Medicare to allow younger people to buy in, but had not yet settled on a single approach.
Inslee said he would not take funds from fossil fuel companies on the campaign trail, or continue any subsidies to oil and gas industries if elected president.
He called for support for the so-called Green New Deal backed by progressive congressional Democrats, and said investing in renewable energy such as solar and wind power had boosted the economy of Washington and would create millions of jobs nationwide.