Episode #21
Jared Polis Made Colorado #1 in Education
Jared Polis took an unusual path into politics. When he was 25, and not yet a parent, he won a seat on Colorado's State Board of Education. He later had kids of his own and became the first openly gay parent to serve in Congress. In 2018, Colorado made him the first openly gay man ever elected governor in the United States. Eight years later, education is still Governor Polis's signature issue, from passing universal preschool and full-day kindergarten to breaking with most of his party on school choice. He's zagged on plenty of other issues, too, vetoing dozens of bills from a legislature his party controls. Now, with a few months left in his final term, Governor Polis is talking about what he's learned. Sarah McCammon spoke with him in Washington, DC, about how Colorado paid for universal preschool, why he cut Tina Peters's sentence, and why he wants Democrats to be pro-capitalism. IN THIS EPISODE: 00:00 — Cold open 1:19 — Why education: preschool, apprenticeships, and school choice 17:26 — RFK Jr., vaccines, and chemicals in the food supply 19:11 — Housing, duplexes, and mortgage rates near 7% 22:20 — Mail voting and cutting Tina Peters's sentence 27:59 — The Boulder attack, Melat Kiros, and antisemitism 32:18 — Why Democrats should run on affordability and capitalism 33:57 — Legacy, life after office, and the Democratic primary CREDITS Unmoderated is a production of Unmoderated News. Our team is Sarah McCammon, Kate deGruyter, Emily Becker, Janae Morris, David Fanto, Alex Kapelman, Kaitlyn Perez, Amea Thompson, Madison Meyer, Harrison Chinchar, Nathan Harnick, Jack Spilles, Alan Haburchak, and Gemma Waters. Music by Ṭaus al Chalabi. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
