30 Facts About Jared Polis

1. Jared Polis enjoys video games such as League of Legends, and his favorite champions include Maokai and Anivia.

2. Jared Polis is one of the few people to be openly gay when first elected to the US House of Representatives and the first gay parent in Congress.

3. Jared Polis has shown interest in the regulatory environment relating to kombucha.

4. In 2014, Jared Polis sponsored two ballot measures targeting hydraulic fracturing, Initiatives 88 and 89.

5. In May 2014, Jared Polis became the first US representative to accept campaign donations via Bitcoin.

6. Jared Polis vowed to protect Bitcoin in Congress and to fight against any attempts by the government to enact policies that restrict the growth of bitcoin and its burgeoning startup community.

7. In September 2014, Jared Polis filed a discharge petition to bring the LGBT Employment Non-Discrimination Act to the floor of the House of Representatives for a proper vote.

8. Jared Polis voted for the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell, which prohibited openly gay and lesbian members of the Military from serving.

9. Jared Polis is the leading sponsor of the Student Non-Discrimination Act with Senator Al Franken, who introduced the act in the Senate.

10. Jared Polis pushed for the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act, and praised the Obama Administration's decision for the Justice Department to no longer defend DOMA, saying that "Section 3 of the law is unconstitutional.

11. Jared Polis is currently one of seven openly gay members of the 113th Congress, and caucuses in the LGBT Equality Caucus.

12. Jared Polis advocated the legalization of medical marijuana to combat prescription drug abuse.

13. Jared Polis voted against the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, and is against Section 1021, which has drawn controversy about implications to detention policy.

14. Jared Polis said that the charges brought on by US Attorney Carmen Ortiz were "ridiculous and trumped-up", and that "It's absurd that he was made a scapegoat.

15. Jared Polis has criticized expanding US troops in Afghanistan, and supports putting resources in intelligence and special operations.

16. Jared Polis opposed the Iraq War saying that, "The invasion of Iraq was a colossal mistake and I opposed the war from the very beginning.

17. Jared Polis has introduced the Computer Science Education Act, which helps provide job training for computing jobs, and the ACE Act, which would provide funding to improve outcomes for students in persistently low-performing schools, and to authorize school "turnaround grants.

18. Jared Polis has sponsored other education bills and legislation regarding students including;.

19. In 2018, Jared Polis announced that he would be running for governor of Colorado.

20. In 2006, Jared Polis served as Co-chair of "Coloradans for Clean Government", a committee that supported Amendment 41, a citizen-initiated ballot measure to ban gifts by registered lobbyists to government officials, establish a $50 annual restriction on gift-giving from non-lobbyists, establish a two-year cooling-off period before former state legislators and statewide elected officials can begin lobbying, and create an independent ethics commission.

21. Jared Polis served as Chairman and Vice-Chairman of the Colorado State Board of Education during his term.

22. In 2000, Jared Polis was elected at-large as a member of the Colorado State Board of Education and served for a single six-year term until January 2007 when the district was eliminated.

23. At the time of his election, Jared Polis had founded a number of companies and is one of the 10 richest members of the United States Congress.

24. In 2005, Jared Polis co-founded with Urban Peak the charter school Academy of Urban Learning in Denver to help youth at risk of becoming homeless or living in unstable living conditions.

25. Jared Polis has founded two charter schools, one with multiple campuses across three states and a post-secondary school, the New America College, for at-risk students.

26. Jared Polis co-founded American Information Systems, Inc while still in college.

27. Jared Polis lived in San Diego, California, during his high school years, and graduated from La Jolla Country Day School in three years with multiple honors.

28. Jared Polis was born at Boulder Community Hospital in Boulder, Colorado, in 1975.

29. Jared Polis is the son of Stephen Schutz and Susan Jared Polis Schutz, founders of greeting card and book publisher Blue Mountain Arts.

30. Jared Polis was elected Governor of Colorado in 2018, making him the first openly gay man elected governor in the United States, as well as the first Jewish governor of Colorado.