Colorado Politics

Gov. Jared Polis officially launches re-election campaign with statewide tour

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis officially launches his bid for a second term on Tuesday with a four-day, statewide tour starting at a campaign event at a brewery in Pueblo.

The former five-term congressman from Boulder told Colorado Politics he’s accomplished the goals he campaigned on four years ago in the face of a series of historic natural disasters and a global pandemic that sent the economy reeling, with a death toll topping 12,000 Coloradans as it enters its third year.

“I’m very proud of the work we’ve done in Colorado, managing Colorado through a number of crises,” Polis said. “It’s been a heavy challenge to lead the state through many of its darkest hours over the last few years. And I’m proud of the work that we’ve done to save thousands of lives in Colorado in the pandemic while also keeping our schools and economy open. We also experienced the three largest wildfires in the history of our state and the most damaging fire just a month and a half ago.”

A tech entrepreneur who struck it rich in his 20s in the early days of the internet, Polis became the first openly gay governor in the country in 2018 when he defeated Republican nominee Walker Stapleton, a former state treasurer.

He poured $23 million into his first gubernatorial run and plans to spend what’s necessary on his re-election campaign, his campaign said.

In this file photo, Colorado Democrats Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera, left, and Gov. Jared Polis are pictured on Oct. 26, 2018, in Silverthorne at a stop on a statewide bus tour during their campaign for the offices they won a week later. 
(AP Photo/David Zalubowski, file)

A dozen Republicans are seeking the nomination to challenge Polis, whose job-approval rating has stayed above water even as voters appear to be souring on Democrats nationwide. Leading GOP contenders include University of Colorado Regent Heidi Ganahl, former Parker Mayor Greg Lopez, and Elbert County rancher and real estate agent Danielle Neuschwanger, a first-time candidate.

“If there’s one lesson I learned, it’s that leadership matters, judgment matters, and now I’m asking Coloradans for a second term as we lead Colorado to our brightest days,” Polis said.

Added Polis: “We have hard work ahead, and I’m ready to fight hard to lower the cost of living. save people money on health care, help people hold on to more of their hard-earned money and, most importantly, keep Colorado moving forward.”

Polis kicked off his gubernatorial run in June 2017 at a solar-powered coffee house in Pueblo with promises to lower the cost of health care, expand preschool and kindergarten and move the state toward 100% renewable energy by 2040.

He said he’s starting his re-election run in the same city to bring attention to some of the “big, bold ideas” he campaigned on while at the same time looking toward the future.

“It’s really highlighting Pueblo as a city that’s well positioned for success in the future,” he said. “I launched my campaign at Solar Roasters Coffee four and a half years ago on a goal of 100% renewable energy by 2040. I now think we’re on track to get there even sooner – we’ll be at 80% by 2030 in just eight more years, and and in many ways, Southern Colorado is powering the way.”

The tour continues through Friday, with 22 stops up and down the Front Range and into Western Colorado and back on the Interstate 70 corridor, his campaign said. Stops are planned in Colorado Springs, Castle Rock, Aurora, Denver, Arvada, Broomfield, Boulder, Idaho Springs, Silverthorne, Edwards, Gypsum, Grand Junction, Glenwood Springs, Sterling, Greeley, Fort Collins, Strasburg and unincorporated Adams County, with more than one event scheduled in some cities.

In an interview, Polis rejected a string of attacks from Republicans that he’s an election-year convert on some of his recent policies, including a proposal to reduce fees charged by the state and a multi-year plan to combat the crime wave that critics say has been fueled, in part, by criminal justice reform measures Polis has championed.

“Look at what we’ve been saying and doing from my first days in office when we created the Office of Saving People Money in Health Care, delivered on the bipartisan reinsurance package, introduced measures to work on recidivism reduction and reforming the juvenile detention system,” he said.

“So, there’s a lot of work ahead. We have a goal of making Colorado one of the 10 safest states over the next five years and will take thoughtful ideas from Republicans, Democrats, independents – from the left and the right – to be able to get it done,” he continued. “And of course, saving people money in health care is also not a partisan issue, whether you’re Republican or Democrat – you’re sick and tired of being ripped off and paying more for prescription drugs than anyone else in the world and more for insurance, and we’ve begun to make progress on that, but there’s a lot of work ahead.”

Colorado GOP chair Kristi Burton Brown lashed Polis last week after he appeared at the state Capitol with other Democratic officials to unveil a public safety program.

“Jared Polis is trying to gaslight Coloradans,” Burton Brown said in a statement. “For years, he has supported and signed laws that have hurt our law enforcement agencies and emboldened criminals. Now that it is an election year and crime is out of control, he is trying to change course.”

His potential GOP opponents have assailed Polis over his handling of the pandemic, charging that shutdowns and mask mandates have devastated the economy.

This week, Ganahl condemned Polis for recent attempts to suggest that he didn’t impose the restrictions he ordered at the height of the pandemic.

“Heidi is against mandates,” a Ganahl campaign spokeswoman told Colorado Politics. “She will always trust the people of Colorado to make good decisions for themselves. Election Year Polis wants it both ways – credit for reversing his mandates and credit for temporarily lifting taxes he created. It’s time we hold him accountable for what he says all the time, not just in an election year.”

Among the accomplishments cited by Polis and his campaign, under his administration Colorado has eliminated personal property taxes paid by businesses, boosted the state’s earned income tax credit and child tax credit, cut the assessment rate on homes, reduced the income tax rate and eliminated state taxes on social security payments to older residents. In addition, health care insurance premiums have dropped by an average 24% in the individual market and the price of insulin has been capped at $100 a month.

“If there’s one thing you’ve learned about us, it’s that we say what we’re going to do and we do what we say,” Polis said. “We successfully got full-day kindergarten for every child in Colorado my very first year, and the voters passed our universal preschool initiative, with more than two thirds of the vote. It united red counties and blue counties, rural, suburban and urban, and that starts in fall of ’23. We’re very excited about that work, and it’ll be a benefit not only for every child in the state, but also saving families $500 to $1,000 a month, helping to address some of the workforce shortages that we have. There are so many benefits to quality early childhood education.”

Polis’s running mate Lt. Gov. Dianne Primavera, a former state lawmaker and the head of the state office Polis established to save health care dollars, said in a statement that she’s ready to hit the campaign trail running.

“The governor and I are grateful to the people of Colorado for their partnership through unprecedented challenges and for their support now,” she Primavera. “We love Colorado. We will always fight to do what is best for Coloradans.”

Polis said he intends to keep up a heavy campaign schedule through the November election.

“I’m one of the hardest-working people in politics and that goes for election times as well,” he said. “When I was in Congress, I held more town hall meetings than any other member from Colorado, and I was in the top five in the country. As a gubernatorial candidate asking for another four years, we’re going to leave no stone unturned.”

Colorado’s Democratic governor Jared Polis is announcing his re-election campaign this week, making several stops across the state. Colorado Politics looks at his first four States of the State addresses to see how the governor has delivered his message through four years of hope and turmoil. (Video: Colorado Politics)

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