Colorado Politics

Chile battle gets hot between Polis, New Mexico governor

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis has a bone to pick with New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham – over chiles, of course.

And the battle is heating up.

As of Wednesday afternoon, “Hatch” – as in New Mexico Hatch chiles – was among Twitter’s top trending topics in the Denver area, thanks to the two heads of state.

The duo began bickering on social media earlier in the day over whose state’s chile pepper was better – Colorado’s Pueblo or New Mexico’s Hatch – when Lujan Grisham tweeted a link to an article from the Santa Fe New Mexican newspaper’s Milan Simonich about grocer Whole Foods Market’s recent decision to carry Pueblo, not Hatch, chiles in most of its Rocky Mountain area stores.

Polis announced the retailer’s decision on Facebook Saturday, posting, in part, “New Mexico stores will unfortunately not be offering the best chile and will instead keep offering inferior New Mexico chile.”

Lujan Grisham responded Wednesday with a tweet bashing the pride of Pueblo and seemingly hinting at a showdown.

“If Pueblo chile were any good, it would have been on national shelves before now,” she tweeted. “If Colorado wants to go chile to chile, no question that New Mexico can bring the heat.”

That elicited a tweet from Polis Wednesday afternoon, challenging Lujan Grisham to a taste-off in Trinidad, just north of the Colorado-New Mexico border.

“Let’s put this to the test,” he tweeted.

Meanwhile, other Colorado politicos began weighing in.

“My mom’s side of the family goes back generations in CO and my dad’s side of the family goes back generations in NM. I am uniquely qualified to answer this question, and the answer is #PUEBLOCHILE all damn day!” tweeted Colorado state Sen. Julie Gonzales.

And there was this missive from Colorado state Senate President Leroy Garcia, who seemed to be maneuvering to bring the challenge north.

“Sorry , but everyone knows has the best green chile,” the Pueblo Democrat tweeted. “Feel free to come to Pueblo and taste for yourself.”

A Polis spokesman told Colorado Politics on Thursday that the governor’s office is exploring potential challenge dates “during chile season in late summer and early fall.”

Lujan Grisham’s office on Thursday said there are “no concrete plans right now” for a challenge.

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From left: Colorado Gov. Jared Polis and New Mexico Gov. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
(Associated Press/Gazette file photos)
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