What happened to Gov. Jared Polis? The lame duck Democratic governor has spent the last two years of his time in office seemingly at war with his own party.
By the time he exits public office, his will be a legacy of disappointment and betrayal for Colorado Democrats. Most would love to see him step aside and anoint Phil Weiser, the overwhelming favorite to serve as our next governor, tomorrow. They would punt Polis out the door, down the Capitol steps and into Kansas if they could.
That is a far fall over the past 25 years.
I first ran into Polis on the campaign trail in 2000. In the years immediately prior, he had already lined his pockets with almost a couple hundred million dollars and still had a mostly full head of hair. I distinctly remember picking up a yellow Polis for Colorado Board of Education pencil from a stack at a candidate forum.
Young, smart, gay and full of confidence, he could see his future, and it started with that race. I think he spent a little over a million dollars of his own money to win a statewide race by 90 votes. Of course, in those days Republicans controlled three of the statewide offices — A.G. Ken Salazar was the sole exception — both chambers of the legislature, two U.S. senators and two-thirds of the members of Congress.
Polis won while Colorado still looked red on the electoral map.
Along with three other ultra wealthy individuals, Polis would sink huge sums into turning the state blue to purple over the next few years. While Republicans could not plan more than a few months ahead, they looked down the line five and 10 years. Investing tens of millions of dollars, Polis, Tim Gill, Pat Stryker and Rutt Bridges laid a foundation that has sustained Democratic victories for a quarter-century.
Former state Rep. Rob Witwer and reporter Adam Schrager documented the strategy in “The Blueprint: How Democrats Won Colorado.” To this day it is one of the two or three best books on political strategy and remains as valid as ever. And it would not have happened without Polis.
While helping across the state, Polis also kept stoking his own political rise. The Board of Education would never be enough for anyone as ambitious and self-aggrandizing. Eight years later he jumped into a crowded primary field for the Congress. Again he poured his millions into the race and eventually eked past former president of the Colorado Senate Joan Fitz-Gerald with just over 40% of the vote.
Polis spent a decade flying to and from Washington, D.C. I cannot imagine he enjoyed it much. A man who amassed nearly a half-billion-dollar fortune by following his instincts would chafe at the ridiculous politicking between 435 members of Congress. But it provided the platform to launch himself up another rung on the ladder.
When Polis ran for governor in 2018, he did so with the full support of the structure he helped put in place. Furthermore, the Colorado Republican Party was already five years into the self-immolation that continues to this day. Polis took office as a blue state governor during the middle of President Donal Trump’s first term in office, nominally to stand against the unpopular president.
Of course, Polis almost certainly woke up every morning, looked at himself in the mirror and said, “Hello Mr. President” to his reflection. It would be the next logical step and he never squelched rumors about his intentions.
Then the coronavirus pandemic hit. He cast doubt on the efficacy of masks and made public statements that seemed to run contrary to the advice of public health officials. He seemed to be taking talking points out of the GOP playbook rather than his own party. While Polis had openly flirted with libertarian ideals for years, including multiple vetoes of union-backed legislation, the pandemic seemed to kick those predilections into overdrive.
Fast forward a few years and Polis became one of the few Democrats in the country to heap praise on Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his MAHA (Make America Healthy Again) policies.
Polis seemed to delight in enraging the scientific and healthcare care communities almost as much as Kennedy. Now, children, including those in Colorado, are dying from measles outbreaks and uncontrolled bleeding due to Vitamin K deficiency thanks to those policies.
But Polis waited until his final year in office to deliver the coup de grâce to the party that put him in power. After months of floating the idea like a lead balloon, Polis commuted the felony sentence for convicted election denier Tina Peters.
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The condemnation came fast and furious, even from law-and-order Republicans. Undeterred, Polis claimed the action would “be remembered fondly” and fired two clemency board officials who publicly spoke out against him.
If he were a little taller and lathered himself in orange bronzer, he could be mistaken for the guy in the oval office.
Maybe that is Polis’ long-term plan. Maybe with his own ambition to run for president quashed, he has decided to turn heel and make a play for a cabinet position. Or maybe he wants to be included in the club of tech bros who have used the current administration to carve out their own fiefdoms. Or what about a gig on Fox News, where he has become a more frequent guest for right wing audiences.
Whatever Polis sees next for himself, it certainly will not be a legacy as the man who helped build the current Democratic dominance in Colorado and a beloved governor. He has burned his own party too much and too often for that.
Mario Nicolais is an attorney and columnist who writes on law enforcement, the legal system, health care and public policy. Follow him on BlueSky: @MarioNicolais.bsky.social.
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