Democratic Rep. Jared Polis had previously refused to rule out running for Colorado governor in 2018, and he recently gave an interview where he confirmed his interest, stating that he’ll decide on a bid “in the next month or two.” After making a fortune during the 1990s tech boom, Polis is one of the wealthiest Congress members and could afford to self-fund well into the tens of millions of dollars if he wanted to. Prior to representing the safely blue Boulder-area 2nd District since 2009, Polis narrowly won a single six-year term to an at-large seat on Colorado’s state Board of Education in 2000, so this wouldn’t be the first time he’s run statewide if he goes through with it in 2018.
The race to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper in this light-blue state has already drawn heated attention from both parties, and if Polis takes the plunge, he’ll join a Democratic primary that already has some big names. Fellow Rep. Ed Perlmutter and ex-state Treasurer Cary Kennedy recently joined the race soon after ex-Sen. Ken Salazar took himself out of contention, while ex-state Sen. Mike Johnston is also running for Team Blue and others are considering it too. If Polis were to win the primary and general, he would be the first openly gay man to get elected governor of any U.S. state.