Forward 50 2018

Jared Polis

By Helen Chernikoff November 30, 2018

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

Helen Chernikoff is the Forward’s News Editor. She came to the Forward from The Jewish Week, where she served as the first web director and created both a blog dedicated to disability issues and a food and wine website. Before that, she covered the housing, lodging and logistics industries for Reuters, where she could sit at her desk and watch her stories move the stock market. Helen has a Master’s of Public Administration from Columbia University and a BA in History and French from Amherst College. She is also a rabbinical school dropout. Contact her at [email protected] and follow her on Twitter at @thesimplechild.