Washington Gov. Jay Inslee said Nov. 14 at the annual United Nations climate conference that the failed effort to repeal cap-and-trade in his state was the work of “climate deniers” and “miscreants.”

Speaking in Baku, Azerbaijan, on the Caspian Sea coast, Inslee said the lopsided vote against Initiative 2117 was a “light of inspiration for the entire United States and I believe potentially for the world.”

“We had some miscreants try to repeal our Climate Commitment Act,” he said. “We thrashed them. We defeated them.”

Inslee, whose 12 years as governor ends in January, spoke on a panel convened by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and later appeared on stage for a discussion with White House climate adviser Ali Zaidi.

At both events, Inslee celebrated the cap-and-trade election victory and said Donald Trump’s election won’t stop Washington and other states from working to eliminate greenhouse gases.

Inslee twice quoted poet Walt Whitman, “Be of good cheer, we will not desert you,” a line from the poem, “Song of Myself.”

“Why I came, basically, is we don’t want the world to get down in the dumps over Donald Trump’s ascendancy,” he said.

Inslee said he was inspired to be with other people devoted to the cause of climate change. “There is nothing that’s ever happened in human history that is more unifying than climate change,” he said.

State Rep. Mary Dye, the top-ranking Republican on the House Environmental and Energy Committee, said cap-and-trade has funneled money into government programs but without any environmental benefits.

She criticized the governor for characterizing cap-and-trade opponents as miscreants.

“The governor didn’t get the memo that real Americans don’t like being called names,” Dye said.

“The governor’s policy took almost $3 billion out of the hands of ordinary Washingtonians in less than a year and a half,” she said. “There’s not one good thing about it.”

Cap-and-trade taxes fossil fuels. Energy suppliers pay the tax initially, but the tax is passed on and increases the cost of gasoline, diesel, natural gas and electricity. The measure to repeal it received only 38% of the vote.

Zaidi said the outcome “speaks to the wisdom of the state of Washington, but it also speaks to the foresight and leadership of Governor Inslee, so let’s give him another round of applause.”

The campaign to defeat the measure received seven-figure contributions from high-tech billionaires Steve Balmer, Bill Gates and Chris Stolte.

The campaign avoided the words “climate change,” instead focusing on the tax’s purported health, environmental and transportation benefits. Bill Nye, the television “science guy,” taped an ad and never said “climate change.”

U.S. Climate Alliance managing director Taryn Finnessey asked Inslee what advice he had for other states whose climate policies are attacked.

“Get me on your side. How’s that? That might help,” Inslee said.

Inslee is scheduled to appear at a press conference Friday with former Vice President Al Gore.