On Saturday, Gov. Jared Polis hopped onto Reddit for what is known as an AMA – a wide-open “ask me anything” Q&A where users can, well, ask him anything.
They mostly asked about one thing.
“Why are you standing by your endorsement of RFK Jr.?” one Redditor asked, referring to Polis’ earlier comments about Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“Agreed. I’d also like to know,” another replied.
“Yes, we deserve an answer to this question,” wrote a third.
What followed was an extraordinary and anarchic back-and-forth in which Polis responded no fewer than 32 times over several hours to questions or comments about Kennedy, many challenging Polis for expressing support for some of Kennedy’s beliefs.
I'm Jared Polis, Governor of Colorado, former member of United States Congress, entrepreneur, AMA!
byu/jaredpolis inDenver
Polis was at times testy and combative. At one point, he quoted a Chinese proverb to make a point. At another, he felt the need to all-caps clarify, “I AM AGAINST EUGENICS.”
All together, it marked the most extensive remarks Polis has made about perhaps his most controversial stance during the second administration of President Donald Trump.
“Several people seem to think I am some kind of RFK fan-boy,” he wrote. “Obviously the media just loves anything about that guy, and because my message is more nuanced it attracts a lot of attention. I am FOR anything he, or any HHS Secretary does to promote healthy nutrition and chronic disease prevention. I am AGAINST anything he or any HHS Secretary does that is based on pseudo-science, bad science, or casts aspersions on vaccinations.”
The uproar dates back to November, when Trump put forth Kennedy, who has a long history of attacking vaccines and supporting pseudo-scientific ideas, to lead the massive U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Polis wrote in a post on X that he was “excited” by the prospect of Kennedy becoming the nation’s top health official.
“I look forward to partnering with him to truly make America healthy again,” Polis wrote.
Since that time, Polis has refused to backtrack on those statements, which included support for Kennedy’s stated goals of reducing pesticide use in agriculture, improving nutrition, reducing prescription drug costs and fighting against vaccine mandates. He took largely the same approach in his Reddit AMA.
Polis responded to these questions by arguing that what he wrote wasn’t an endorsement of Kennedy, that he had been critical of Kennedy’s statements about vaccines and other areas of medical science, and that the media had made too big of a deal of it.
“So the way the media works is that I can say 9 things bad about RFK and one thing positive, and they cover the one nice thing I say. Every time,” Polis wrote.
Polis also repeated some of his earlier praise of Kennedy. For instance, he said he believes Kennedy is “not beholden to big pharma,” and Polis said he remains opposed to vaccine mandates. (Though, during the COVID pandemic, Polis sent a letter to the state’s Board of Health asking its members to adopt a vaccine mandate for health care workers.)
“I believe in bodily autonomy,” Polis wrote. “The same reason I’m against vaccine mandates is the reason I’m strongly for easy access to the vaccines of your choice.”
To comments from Reddit users who questioned why Polis would offer any support to Kennedy, given Polis’ opposition to Kennedy’s vaccine policies and other actions as HHS secretary, Polis urged civility and said he believes in finding ways to work together with people who hold opposing views. He said he’s committed to working with Kennedy to benefit Colorado, while remaining critical when Kennedy does something he opposes.
“You should be critical of him in a less polite way,” a user going by the name makingtacosrightnow wrote.
“Guess my mama raised me too well,” Polis responded.
But Polis did at one point strike a more regretful note.
A Redditor going by the name Duet_Yourself asked, “Why frame someone having a good point as deserving public recognition, rather than drawing a line between agreement on an issue and ‘excitement’ for the person?”
To that, Polis responded: “Yes I should be more careful in my words for sure.”
The Reddit AMA comes as polling data shows support among Colorado voters may be slipping for Polis, who is term limited come early 2027.
I’m excited by the news that the President-Elect will appoint @RobertKennedyJr to @HHSGov. He helped us defeat vaccine mandates in Colorado in 2019 and will help make America healthy again by shaking up HHS and FDA. I hope he leans into personal choice on vaccines rather than… pic.twitter.com/cILtTYplcn
— Jared Polis (@jaredpolis) November 14, 2024
In a statewide poll of 1,136 registered voters from July 30 to Aug. 12, 52% said they disapprove of the job Polis is doing while 41% said they approve and 7% said they had no opinion or were unsure. The Democratic governor’s numbers were worst among Republicans, but 50% of unaffiliated voters and 24% of Democratic voters said they also disapproved of his job performance.
The poll was conducted by Magellan Strategies, a conservative-leaning political firm based in Colorado. It had a 2.91 percentage point margin of error.
In another Magellan poll conducted at the end of May into early June, 47% of registered voters said they had a favorable view of Polis while 47% said they had an unfavorable view of the governor.
Asked why Polis decided to hold the Reddit AMA over the holiday weekend, the governor’s office responded with this statement from Polis:
“I believe in having a strong online presence and like to engage with Coloradans on my official and personal platforms. I launched my campaign for governor on Reddit and this Reddit AMA was an example of the many kinds of engagement I have with Coloradans.”
Colorado Sun staff writer Jesse Paul contributed to this report.
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