More than anything else, Jared Polis wants a pony for Christmas.

(Not really, but we’ll get back to that later.)

Congressman and Democratic Party primary gubernatorial candidate Jared Polis, 42, was born in Boulder to creative parents who founded Blue Mountain Arts, a greeting card and book publishing company. He spent his high school years in San Diego, graduated with honors from La Jolla Country Day School, and earned a degree in politics from Princeton.

While he was still in college, Polis co-founded internet access provider American Information Systems (AIS), and a free electronic greeting card website, Bluemountain.com, which he sold to Excite in 1999 for $430 million in stock and $350 million in cash. Around that same time, he founded ProFlowers, an online flower company, which he eventually sold for $477 million.

With that kind of jack, Polis could certainly buy a lot of ponies. Instead, he wanted to provide opportunities for others.

“I had the opportunity to pursue my dreams and start successful businesses of my own,” Polis said. “Once I’d done that, I wanted to get to work making sure that other Coloradans had the same kinds of opportunities – because I knew that many did not. I’ve always believed that opportunity starts with a quality education.”

Education is an issue he holds close to heart, and says he’s seen firsthand how a great education can make all the difference in a child’s future. So in 2000, he ran and was elected statewide to the Colorado Board of Education with the goal of making sure every child in Colorado got the education they needed to unlock a bright future. During his tenure as board chairman, he co-founded schools for vulnerable youth and served as superintendent of a school for new immigrants. Now as a member of the House Education Committee, he continues to work to improve public schools.

“I’m very proud of having started successful business and non-profit schools that have served thousands of at-risk kids, and legislatively, I’m most proud of helping write the bill that replaced No Child Left Behind,” he said. “Schools across Colorado were struggling under the one-size-fits-all mandates of No Child Left Behind. I was very honored to help bring our schools a better system that leaves most decision-making to the states and school districts, where it belongs, and that aims to provide every student, no matter their background, with a great education.”

He credits his parents and his upbringing for his success, and for making him the man he is today.

“I admire my parents a lot,” he said. “My father is an artist and my mother is a poet, and growing up in a creative household helped give me a different take on things. I was also very close to my late grandmother, June Polis, growing up. My family shared with me the love and hard-working values I am instilling in my own family with Marlon and our kids.”

When he’s not balancing his time between working in Washington and Colorado, Polis spends as much time as possible with his family.

“Nothing keeps me more centered and grounded than spending time with my 6- and 3-year-old kids after a long day,” he said. “They don’t care about my work in Congress; all they want to know is if we can play Pokemon Go and what book we will be reading before bed.”

He said to unwind after the kids go to sleep, he and his partner, Marlon Reis, play computer games or watch a movie. Their favorites? Fellow gamers might recognize “League of Legends,” “Age of Mythology,” “Diablo,” “Never Winter Nights” and “Heroes of Might and Magic.” Polis and Ries are also fans of popular television shows “Game of Thrones,” “South Park” and “Last Man on Earth.”

But serving in Congress and running for governor is a tricky balance that doesn’t allow him to spend as much time with his family as he would like, of course. Professionally, he says the biggest challenges come in the way of political posturing, and when special interests come before good ideas.

“Take the Republican tax bill as an example,” he said. “I offered over a dozen amendments, many of them bipartisan, to make the bill work better for families and small business owners here in Colorado. Republican leaders raised no objections to the substance of the amendments I offered, which I think were all very reasonable. But they didn’t even allow a vote on them – or any other amendments – on the House floor, because they were so determined to jam this partisan package through as quickly as possible.”

If he wasn’t in politics, Polis says he’d probably still be in the flower business.

“I always loved being a florist,” he said. “When I sold my company, I printed out cards that said ‘Jared Polis, retired Florist.’ Maybe I could un-retire and get back into the flower business?”

And lastly, “What do you want for Christmas this year?” we asked Polis.

“A pony! That’s what my 3-year-old daughter shouted out when I asked her, but we live in an apartment, so I don’t think it’s very realistic.”