What Jared Polis said at our post-legislative session event

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Thanks to all of you who attended our post-legislative session event Wednesday night at the University of Denver with Gov. Jared Polis and a group of state lawmakers.

For those who missed it, here are the highlights:

• We asked the governor about Denver Chamber CEO J.J. Ament’s call for him to negotiate a better property tax deal before the November election. “The governor’s office is not driving this,” Polis said. “I’m for any tax relief they pass. If Democrats or Republicans have additional pieces to do, they could do them in January. … If they agree on something and come to me — and Barb Kirkmeyer and Chris Hansen are saying we want to do it now instead of January for some reason — of course we’re open to that.”
• Polis said he’s open to expanding the land-use measures passed by the legislature this year to make them apply to more parts of the state. Right now they are basically limited to population centers, which the governor said is a good start. “They address the highest-cost housing areas around Denver, around Colorado Springs, Pueblo, and they’re a big part of the solution,” he said. 
• We pressed the governor on why most mountain communities were exempted from the land-use measures. Polis said it wasn’t his decision — it was the legislature’s. But he also said there are different housing challenges in the high country. “One of the areas they are different is they are even more constrained for land than our cities are,” he said.
• Polis said he may not have held a news conference in support of the bipartisan construction defects measure in the legislature this year, but “it was clear we were supporting it.” The legislation, which never got a full-throated endorsement from the governor’s office, ultimately failed in the House. Polis said land use was his major focus in 2024 because without those changes any effort to shield developers from lawsuits to stoke condominium construction would be less effective. The governor said Coloradans should expect to hear another call for construction defects reform in his 2025 State of the State address. 
• We asked Polis if he thinks he’ll have less influence over the legislative process as one of his biggest allies, Senate President Steve Fenberg, departs because he’s term-limited. “Whoever is in leadership, we’re going to establish a strong relationship,” Polis said. “I’ve known Speaker (Julie) McCluskie a number of years from her work on the school district days and have gotten to know Monica Duran. Robert Rodriguez,  I’ve known his father many years and him to a lesser extent.”
• The governor said the Regional Transportation District’s “convoluted governance structure” doesn’t set the agency up for success. “The state needs RTD to be successful,” he said. “We are gonna step up as funding partners. We need to make sure that they can achieve operational excellence and are one of the best transit agencies in the country.”

WATCH: Recapping the 2024 Colorado legislative session

ADVICE FOR BIDEN

We closed with asking Polis if he has any advice for President Joe Biden as the November election nears and polls show he is trailing in some key battleground states.

“I would encourage him to talk about the future,” the governor said. “When I run for office, I never talk about what I did. I talk about what I want to do and a vision.”

• Jared Polis on new housing options, public transit, and property tax relief
  — CPR News

THE NARRATIVE

National Republicans roll their eyes at Colorado GOP’s endorsements in congressional races

When the Colorado GOP decided last month to endorse U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert in the Republican primary in the 4th Congressional District, some in the party groaned because the party has traditionally stayed neutral in primaries.

But this week, the party went a big step further — and raised the stakes immensely —by endorsing two vulnerable, far-right allies running in primaries in competitive congressional contests. That’s drawing the attention — and frustration — of national Republicans as they battle to keep control of the U.S. House.

The Colorado GOP endorsed former state Reps. Ron Hanks in the 3rd Congressional District and Janak Joshi in the 8th Congressional District. Hanks is one of five Republicans running in the June 25 primary in the 3rd District, including State Board of Education Director Stephen Varela, who won the district’s nominating assembly last month. Joshi faces state Rep. Gabe Evans of Fort Lupton in the Republican primary in the 8th District, who got 62% of the delegate vote at the district’s assembly vote.

“This is going to work out for them about as well as it worked out for the Nebraska GOP,” said a national GOP strategist, who asked not to be named so they could speak candidly about the situation.

The Nebraska Republican Party, which like the Colorado GOP is now run by Trump loyalists, endorsed primary challengers to all five of the state’s GOP incumbents. None of the challengers won Tuesday, when the state’s primaries were held.

Joshi has few ties to the district. He surrendered his medical license more than a decade ago, but still presents himself as a doctor in campaign materials. Hanks is an election conspiracy theorist and conservative firebrand.

Both are seen as the riskiest options in their respective districts for Republicans heading into November. The 8th District is a toss-up where Democratic U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo is fighting for reelection. The 3rd District leans heavily in Republicans’ favor, but Boebert nearly lost her 2022 reelection bid there to Democrat Adam Frisch after voters soured on her.

The endorsements came after the Colorado GOP sent candidates a survey with questions meant to effectively be a litmus test on their support for former President Donald Trump.

Varela and Evans, who refused to fill out the survey, took issue with the endorsements.

Varela said in a written statement that the party had been “hijacked by a cabal of imposters.”

Evans said the decision to endorse Joshi was made by out-of-touch party bosses.

“I was honored to earn the endorsement of grassroots Republicans by a 2-to-1 margin at the 8th Congressional District Republican Assembly,” Evans said. “Those hardworking Republican primary voters are the ones I care about.”

Meanwhile, here’s what the Pueblo County GOP said on Facebook: “The state GOP is perpetuating fake news and engaging in election interference toward Stephen Varela who won top line at the State Assembly.”

Something you should know: Joshi lived in Colorado Springs for decades before changing his voter registration to an apartment in Thornton in February.

Also: Colorado GOP Chairman Dave Williams supposedly recused himself from the Hanks endorsement decision.

THE POLITICAL TICKER

CONGRESS

Members of Colorado’s congressional delegation ranked high — and low — in a Lugar Center recent study of bipartisanship in the U.S. House and Senate in 2023. Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Lafayette, ranked highest at No. 18, while first-year Rep. Yadira Caraveo, D-Thornton, ranked 28th. Reps. Jason Crow, D-Centennial, and Brittany Pettersen, D-Lakewood, also ranked among the top 60 of the 435 House members. Former Rep. Ken Buck, R-Windsor, ranked 146th; Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs, ranked 169th; Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, ranked 298th; and Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Windsor, ranked 428th. Boebert’s ranking is up from the last Congress, when she was last. Sen. John Hickenlooper ranked 27th among the 100 senators and Sen. Michael Bennet ranked 32nd.

PERSONNEL FILE

Nico Delgado is now the U.S. Senate campaign communications director for American Bridge 21st Century, an opposition research firm that tracks Republican candidates. He previously worked for Strategies 360 in Denver, and before that did stints with the Colorado Democratic Party and U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper’s 2020 campaign.

ENDORSEMENT

U.S. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana, this week endorsed former Parker Mayor Greg Lopez, a Republican, in the 4th Congressional District special election June 25. Scalise said Lopez “will draw on his experience as a veteran and small business owner to represent Colorado’s 4th District with selfless service.”

ENDORSEMENT

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert returned the favor by endorsing Colorado GOP Dave Williams in the Republican primary in the 5th Congressional District. (The GOP earlier endorsed Boebert in the 4th District Republican primary.) “We’ve got enough cranks in Congress already,” Boebert posted on social media in a dig at Williams’ opponent, conservative commentator Jeff Crank.

READ MORE

• Lauren Boebert heckled in New York while defending Trump
  — The Hill
• Colorado governor praises President Biden’s steps toward marijuana rescheduling
  — Colorado Politics 🔑
• Colorado’s top federal prosecutor resigns to return to private sector
  — CPR News
• Colorado passed a law to crack down on dishonest officers by pulling their certifications. Has it worked?
  — CPR News
• How Polis got oil companies to bankroll Colorado’s transit expansion
  — E&E News 🔑
• “This is horrible news”: Gov. Jared Polis criticizes Biden’s tariffs on China
  — Colorado Politics 🔑

🔑 = source has article meter or paywall

ELECTION 2024

Political TV advertising heats up as primaries near

Republican Jeff Crank, a conservative podcast host, hit the 5th Congressional District airwaves this week with nearly $17,000 in TV ads that started Wednesday and will air until Tuesday, based on contracts filed with the Federal Communication Commission. The ads air on four Colorado Springs stations, mostly on local and national news shows. Another $3,000 will air on cable TV’s Fox News during the next two weeks.

That outpaces the $15,000 spent by GOP Chairman Dave Williams for cable TV ads between April 15 and May 26. All of those ads are airing on conservative cable channels Fox News and Newsmax.

Crank’s initial message focuses on immigration and closing the border, while Williams’ spots emphasize his conservative credentials, including his endorsement from former President Donald Trump.

The two will face off in the June 25 Republican primary for the congressional seat held by retiring U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colorado Springs.

8TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT

Those numbers are small beans compared with what’s being spent in the toss-up 8th Congressional District. Most of the money is aimed at helping Democratic U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo of Thornton win reelection in a race that could decide which party controls Congress.

The dark-money group Protect Our Care spent $273,000 on cable TV ads in the 8th District from March through early May. It’s a political nonprofit and thus doesn’t have to disclose its donors.

The group’s ad benefiting Caraveo features a narrator saying she’s fighting for lower health care costs in Congress, and is part of a $5 million national ad campaign by the group.

Meanwhile, the Democratic House Majority PAC has reserved $3.4 million in Denver TV ad time for September and October, based on FCC filings. That time is almost certainly aimed at the 8th District.

State Rep. Gabe Evans of Fort Lupton and former state Rep. Janak Joshi, who until recently lived in Colorado Springs, are running against each other in the June 25 Republican primary that will decide who takes on Caraveo in November.

THE BIGGER PICTURE

• A GOP Texas school board member campaigned against schools indoctrinating kids. Then she read the curriculum.
  — The Texas Tribune and ProPublica
• Gig companies spent $200 million to write their own labor law. The California Supreme Court could throw it out.
  — CalMatters
• Washington road deaths jump 10%, reaching 33-year high. What are we doing wrong?
  — The Seattle Times 🔑
• Democrats aim for a breakthrough for Black women in the Senate
  — The New York Times 🔑

🔑 = source has article meter or paywall

Corrections & Clarifications

Notice something wrong? The Colorado Sun has an ethical responsibility to fix all factual errors. Request a correction by emailing corrections@coloradosun.com.

Type of Story: News

Based on facts, either observed and verified directly by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources.