Well, that escalated quickly. According to a tweet by Fox31’s Joe St. George, U.S. Congressman Jared Polis may spend more of his vast personal wealth on his gubernatorial run than he did on his Congressional bid.
In his Congressional primary, Polis spent $6 million. What will he spend in this primary? It’s hard to say, but he’s worth somewhere around $300 million, partially from day trading health care stocks while debating Obamacare. Funny that Colorado Ethics Watch never really explored that…. But we digress.
Nonetheless, the sky’s the limit. And he may need a whole bucket of money. Polis’ entrance into the race will mean that oil and gas money is going to gush after Polis tried to (in essence) ban oil and gas production in the state. The question is whether Big Green will come out to support him after he left them hanging with the fracking ballot initiatives.
Either way, this should have a chilling effect on other Democrats jumping in the race. In response to Polis’ announcement, fellow Democratic gubernatorial candidate Cary Kennedy announced an endorsement from Denver DA Beth McCann, which doesn’t actually buy you $6 million in goodwill or name ID with voters. U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter has remained oddly silent. Former state Senator Mike Johnston released some kind of ad about leadership. Or something.
But, make no mistake, Polis and his pot o’ gold is the 800-pound gorilla in the room.
Oh, and St. George, you can unblock us on Twitter anytime now.