Ep. 498 — Gov. Jared Polis
The Axe Files with David Axelrod
CNN
4.6 • 7.7K Ratings
🗓️ 14 July 2022
⏱️ 62 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
By the time Colorado Gov. Jared Polis was 16, he was already enrolled at Princeton University. At 23, he became a millionaire after selling the business he started in his college dorm, and at 25, he was elected to state-wide office in Colorado. As a Democratic politician with a libertarian streak, Gov. Polis spent 10 years in Congress before becoming governor. He joined David to talk about volunteering for campaigns before he was a teenager, the impact of the Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage and his concerns about the current court, his focus on education and charter schools, how he responded to the Covid-19 pandemic, and the advice he would give President Biden.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Music |
| 0:06.0 | And now, from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN Audio, the Axe Files, with your host, David Axelrod. |
| 0:19.0 | Colorado Governor Jared Polis is one of the most unusual politicians in America today. |
| 0:24.0 | The gay Jewish son of anti-Vietnam War protesters, who turned a greeting card business they operated out of a traveling van into a digital empire. |
| 0:34.0 | Polis himself made a fortune as an entrepreneur before he was 25. |
| 0:38.0 | And then started a political climb that is not Mr. Rung. |
| 0:42.0 | Along the way he's established a reputation as a Democrat with a libertarian streak. |
| 0:47.0 | So yes to abortion rights, gay rights, and the legalization of weed. |
| 0:51.0 | But also yes to charter schools and cooperation across party lines. |
| 0:56.0 | And notably, he stood apart from other Democratic governors on the pace of COVID re-opening and repeal of mask mandates. |
| 1:04.0 | All and all an interesting guy whose actions more than words are creating some buzz. |
| 1:09.0 | Here's that conversation. |
| 1:11.0 | Music |
| 1:18.0 | Governor Polis, it's really good to be with you. I have to say I'm closing into my 500th episode of the Axe Files. |
| 1:25.0 | All practicing just to get to this one. |
| 1:28.0 | But your story is really one of the more unusual stories among elected officials. |
| 1:36.0 | And so welcome, first of all. |
| 1:39.0 | Well, let's just call this your 500th episode. |
| 1:42.0 | That's not really known as half a millennia, that is that's exactly. |
| 1:48.0 | Let's just talk a little bit about your family history because it's so intriguing. |
| 1:53.0 | First of all, you and I have something in common of my father and his family came over from Eastern Europe, from Ukraine, in the Jewish immigrants in the early part of the 20th century. |
| 2:05.0 | And I know that's your family members came over as well. |
... |
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