Polis, Jared, 1975-

Jared Schutz Polis (born May 12, 1975) is an American politician, entrepreneur and businessman. A member of the Democratic Party, he has served as the 43rd governor of Colorado since January 2019.

Born in Boulder, Colorado, he lived in San Diego, California as a high school student, graduating from La Jolla Country Day School in three years with multiple honors. He graduated from Princeton University with a B.A. in politics in 1996. Polis co-founded American Information Systems (AIS), Inc., an internet access provider, while still in college. In 1996, he co-founded a free electronic greeting card website, bluemountain.com. In February 1998, Polis founded ProFlowers, an online florist, in La Jolla, California. Polis and other investors founded TechStars in Boulder, Colorado in 2006.

In 2000, Polis was elected at-large as a member of the Colorado State Board of Education and served a single six-year term until January 2007, when the district was eliminated. In 2008, Polis won a heavily contested Democratic primary election for Colorado's 2nd congressional district, and went on to win the general election on November 4 with 62% of the vote; he would be re-elected four times. In Congress, Polis was the only Democratic member of the libertarian conservative Liberty Caucus and was the second-wealthiest member of the United States Congress, with an estimated net worth of $313.5 million. Polis was the Red to Blue program chair for the DCCC during the 2012 elections, helping recruit and raise money for Democratic candidates in competitive congressional districts. During his time in Congress, the Center for Effective Lawmaking ranked Governor Polis the most effective member of Colorado’s House delegation.

In 2018, Polis was elected Governor of Colorado. An effort to recall Polis and other Democratic elected officials failed to submit any signatures; Polis said of the effort, “Recalls should not be used for partisan gamesmanship”.

As an openly gay man, Polis has made history several times through his electoral success. In 2008, he became the first same-sex parent elected to the United States Congress. In 2018, he became the first openly gay person and second openly LGBT person (after Kate Brown of Oregon) elected governor of a state in the United States.He is also the first Jew to be elected governor of Colorado. In 2020, he became the first U.S. governor to be engaged to a same-sex partner and they wed in 2021.