Leading Colorado’s recovery with pragmatic solutions that will help our communities be stronger and healthier.
Making Colorado more affordable and helping families and small businesses hold onto more of their hard-earned money.
Moving Colorado forward by creating more opportunity for Coloradans today and for generations to come.
Governor Polis continues to set Colorado kids up for success by starting free, all-day kindergarten and making record investments in local schools to reduce class size and pay teachers more.
Every election cycle, we hear from politicians promising to “strengthen our economy,” but often all they offer are vague plans and platitudes. I’m running for Governor of Colorado to turn bold ideas into real results. I know Colorado can lead the way in creating an economy that works for everybody, not just those at the top, and I have a plan to do it. I support allowing cities and counties to raise the minimum wage, providing paid family medical leave, and ensuring equal pay for equal work, and we can do even more to address rising income inequality and ensure that workers share in the value they help create.
For our climate, for our national security, for our health, and for our economic growth, we need a bold goal of 100 percent renewable energy. As Governor, I will work with all involved parties to accomplish our statewide clean energy transition by 2040 while saving Coloradans money on their utility bills, and creating green energy jobs in Colorado that can never be outsourced.
Governor Polis is focused on helping Coloradans save money. By capping the cost of prescription drugs like insulin, cutting taxes for small businesses, and getting rid of state Social Security taxes, this Polis-Primavera administration is just getting started.
Governor Polis is improving public safety by expanding background checks on gun purchases while making sure local law enforcement have the tools they need to fight crime and doing more to prevent crime in the first place by expanding drug treatment and mental health services.
Governor Polis is focused on expanding opportunities so that every Coloradan can live the life they want, protecting our right to choose, our right to marry who we love and our choices on how we raise and educate our kids.
In the absence of national leadership from the White House, it is up to states like Colorado to chart our course for energy freedom. For our climate, for our national security, for our health, and for our economic growth, we need a bold goal of 100 percent renewable energy. As Governor, I will work with all involved parties to accomplish our statewide clean energy transition by 2040 while saving Coloradans money on their utility bills, and creating green energy jobs in Colorado that can never be outsourced.
Some of our highest-skilled, and hardest working, women and men in the state currently work in coal or oil & gas development, and we cannot ignore the impact the transition to a renewable energy economy is having on our friends and neighbors. As Governor, I recognize the importance of skills learned in coal and oil & gas development towards building a 21st century energy portfolio that will revitalize our rural communities and create jobs in infrastructure, manufacturing, and renewable energy development.
In both the short and long term, this transition will help fuel a vibrant Colorado economy. Projections show that reaching our renewable energy goals in Colorado will create over 49,000 construction jobs and over 21,000 operations jobs while saving consumers 10 percent on energy costs.
Consumers will benefit from this transition. According to a 2016 federal government study, the cost of utility-scale wind is now cheaper than natural gas. The onset of new energy storage technology promises to further improve the cost benefits of a fully renewable energy system, and the cleaner air and water that will come as a result of a 100 percent renewable energy economy will help reduce healthcare costs.
Our technology is finally advanced enough to get this done. Communities in Colorado already have ambitious goals, like Pueblo, which is committed to achieving 100 percent renewable energy by 2035. The entire city of Fort Collins is committed to an 80 percent reduction of all carbon from 2005 levels by 2030, and to being completely carbon neutral by 2050. Cities and towns are leading the way, and with a statewide effort, will create jobs and lower utility costs.
I’ll collaborate with everyone willing to contribute to achieve this goal. This has been my exact approach in Congress. For instance, I teamed up with Rep. Frank Gosar (R-AZ) to streamline permitting procedures for solar, wind, and geothermal projects on public lands. Working with Republicans, Democrats, and other constituencies to cut red-tape and compliance costs around clean energy projects is an important and necessary bipartisan route to success. I look forward to forging these kinds of partnerships as Governor.
Let’s just get right down to it: Health care is a human right. Treating an illness or injury should never be a luxury afforded only to the wealthy few who can afford it. Your income, location, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, or current state of health should never be a barrier to receiving affordable, high-quality health care. I believe passionately in universal health care, and I always will.
As with so many other issues, politicians in Washington will stop at nothing to make life harder for Coloradans for the benefit of special interests. In Colorado, we have an opportunity to aggressively reduce the costs of care, expand access to the services people depend on, and put Coloradans first.
Too often, politicians talk about health care as if it begins and ends when you get sick or need to visit a doctor. I propose a bolder path.
We need to give more Coloradans the opportunity to build lifelong healthy habits and have access to services that reduce the chances of ending up in a hospital room or a doctor’s office to begin with. This approach puts the everyday health of our citizens at the forefront of our policy-making while ensuring that when the unimaginable happens, no Coloradan experiences the fear of not being able to afford the treatment they need, or that their loved one needs, to get better.
We should continue to demand action from Congress. But there is also a lot we can do right here, right now to save lives in Colorado. We just have to stop rehashing partisan talking points and commit to taking real action.
First, we need to keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers. Again and again, we see mass shootings carried out by men with a history of abusing the women in their lives. Every year in this country, more than 750 people, mostly women, are murdered by current or former intimate partners with a gun. What’s more, the presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation increases the risk of homicide for women by 500 percent. When a domestic abuser with a pattern of violent threats or actions is issued a restraining order, law enforcement should be empowered to go to court to suspend the abuser’s access to firearms. We can do this in a way that protects due process for the accused
We also must do a better job getting weapons of war — which serve no legitimate sporting purpose — off our streets. And we should ban bump stocks, devices designed solely to convert legal weapons into illegal weapons that can kill dozens of people in less than 10–a minute.
Another too-often overlooked but deadly issue is black-market gun sales, which are enabling violent criminals and gangs to purchase firearms without background checks. The root of this issue is gun theft. In 2015 and 2016 alone, smash-and-grab gun store robberies resulted in nearly 400 guns being stolen in Colorado. We should work to equip gun shops with strong security measures like closed-circuit cameras, discrete signage, and reinforced windows, which are already required of marijuana dispensaries in Colorado. We can also look to the example of communities outside Colorado, such as Richmond, Va., that have strengthened penalties for illegal gun sales and for selling guns to felons — and seen armed robberies and gun homicides drop substantially as a result.
We’ve all seen and felt the impacts of Colorado’s growth in recent years. Traffic makes commutes longer and more crowded. Taking a quick trip to the mountains on the weekend means preparing for hours of delays. For our mountain communities, that results in more wear and tear on I-70, more accidents, more pollution, and hours of gridlock, closure, and lost jobs.
Making matters even more urgent, Colorado is expecting nearly one million new residents to move into our state in the next ten years alone , which equates to a 20 percent increase in vehicle travel.
When you combine the expense of accidents, lost productivity, and dollars burned in travel delays, our transportation woes are already costing Coloradans more than $6.7 billion per year. We simply can’t afford not to act!
To create more opportunities for people to live a good life, we can’t just throw money at old problems without any new solutions.
Colorado’s economic growth makes us the envy of other states near and far. Our entrepreneurial spirit has pioneered massive advances in technology, manufacturing, and energy development. But when you take a closer look at our economy, there is a glaring problem: Colorado’s cost of living has far outgrown most people’s incomes.
Take-home pay has barely increased while the costs to rent or buy a house have skyrocketed. Salaries are almost flat at the same time that our state is experiencing unprecedented growth. In Colorado, we share the value that we should succeed together. Front Range economic growth should be coupled with prosperity on the Western Slope, the Eastern Plains, and Southern Colorado.
We are all #COworkers in our fight to build an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top.
The Colorado way of life should be within reach for everyone.
Together we will raise wages for working families and make sure incomes keep pace with the cost of living. And we’ll take advantage of innovative policies to put money back in the pockets of Colorado families and prepare us for the economy of the future.
For instance, providing access to free, full-day preschool will provide savings of more than $11,000 per year for families with young kids. Utilizing free open-source textbooks will save college students more than $1,200 every year, and dual and concurrent enrollment programs that give students the chance to earn college credits, and even a degree, while in high school are shown to improve achievement while saving parents and students thousands of dollars.
In today’s workforce, unions are more relevant and important than ever before in creating a pathway to achieving the American Dream for middle class workers and to sustain an equitable democracy. All workers should have the right to form a union without fear of retaliation. In addition, supporting all families with policies like paid family and medical leave means employees will no longer have to choose between paying rent or caring for a loved one in need. More employee-ownership ensures that when companies do well, it’s not just the executive and shareholders who make money but the workers alongside them.
Altogether, these policies will help us build a Colorado economy where working families can not just get by, but earn a good living.
Building a universal 21st-century digital infrastructure enables more Coloradans to telecommute and can be a lifeline for many rural communities that rely on telemedicine. Whether you’re a senior who wants to video chat with the grandkids in Texas, or an entrepreneur looking to compete in a global economy, creative approaches to infrastructure play a significant role in making sure all Coloradans can live a good life in a changing economy.
Here in Colorado, we take care of each other. We all have a role to play in making sure that everyone in our great state is able to live a great life and succeed. And, with Colorado expecting major growth in the coming years, it’s more important than ever that we plan for a future that manages growth effectively while maintaining our Colorado quality of life—that especially matters for older Coloradans on fixed income. In fact, by 2030, the Colorado Health Institute projects that population growth among older adults is set to grow by 61 percent. To put that in perspective, Colorado has one of the fastest growing populations of older adults in the country.
We need to begin planning for the impacts this will have on services for older Coloradans now. The good news is that according to the United Health Foundation, Colorado is ranked as the 4th healthiest state for older adults. But, there’s still more to do. Too often, policies meant for older citizens neglect the importance of everyday issues such as convenient transportation and affordable housing in the overall quality of life in our later years.
I’ve been proud to fight for older adults in Congress. One of the great honors of my life was working alongside President Obama to help pass the Affordable Care Act, which expanded Medicaid, lowered the cost for prescription drugs, and increased preventive services for older adults. I’ve also rejected efforts to reduce funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides millions of low-income older adults with access to food. And, in 2014, I voted to reauthorize the Older Americans Act in Congress, which provides funding for critical nutritional and health services to help people age with dignity. As governor, I will fight to make sure that Colorado’s older citizens aren’t left behind in all aspects of everyday life as we confront the challenges of the future.
Our state needs to refocus its local and state governmental bodies to think, legislate, and act in a way that acknowledges this age shift and confronts future challenges now. This is not a political issue, nor is it a partisan one. This is about taking care of our friends and family the best we can so that every Coloradan can age with dignity.
President Trump’s assault on our values and communities calls for bold leaders at the state level to build upon the progress we made under the leadership of President Barack Obama. Colorado needs to lead the way in building diversity in our economy that creates jobs and increases wages, but also reduces the racial wealth gap. In fact, the Economic Policy Institute has found that average white wealth is seven times higher than for African American families. That makes saving for retirement, buying a home, or providing higher education opportunities to children a difficult task. I will work to address this growing crisis and make Colorado a state where communities of color will succeed.