Jared Polis

Jared Polis governs the way he built companies, by moving early into unclaimed territory and betting the model will follow. The Pioneer archetype captures a leader who was among the first internet entrepreneurs to convert startup wealth into elected office, and who became the first openly gay man elected governor of a US state. In Colorado he has pushed frontier positions that scramble party lines, pairing universal free preschool and full day kindergarten with repeated calls to cut the state income tax, a combination few Democrats attempt. His pandemic posture, lifting mandates earlier than peer governors, reflected the same instinct to break from the pack rather than await consensus. The risk of the Pioneer is isolation from his own coalition, and Polis regularly absorbs friction from progressives, treating that distance as evidence he is ahead rather than adrift.