Jared Polis
Gay, Millionaire, Jewish Governor-Elect Of Colorado Breaks The Mold
On November 6, Jared Polis, 43, was elected to become Colorado’s first Jewish governor, and the country’s first openly gay governor, when he beat his Republican opponent with 52.3% to Walker Stapleton’s 44%.
A Democrat, Polis came to the job from Congress, where he was one of the wealthiest members of the “People’s Chamber.” He sold an internet access provider he created while a student at Princeton for $23 million, and helped sell his family’s online greeting-card company for $780 million in 1999.
During the campaign, he touted his progressive agenda, including the co-founding of the House Cannabis Caucus, but he flouts Democratic party orthodoxy on fracking and charter schools, both of which he supports.
— Helen Chernikoff
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO