Politics

Jared Polis: DOGE is ‘tearing down the old without necessarily having a more efficient way of doing it’

Published

2 years ago

February 20, 2025

Democratic Colorado Gov. Jared Polis is all for “making government more efficient” — just not the way the federal government is going about it.

That was just one of Polis’ pushbacks against the new Trump administration during Blue Light News’s Governors Summit on Thursday. Democratic governors across the country have signaled an eagerness to partner with President Donald Trump on certain issues, though they have not held back from criticizing the president in his first weeks back at the White House.

Polis — who at times has provided contrarian views to his fellow Democrats, like when he voiced support for now-Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — indicated some common ground with the administration’s efforts to target “waste at federal agencies,” and suggested that states can learn from efforts being made at the federal level to do so.

But the current moves from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency are “not necessarily the best way to get … a better outcome for less money,” he argued in an interview with Blue Light News’s Eugene Daniels, proposing that “a better way to do it would be more zero-based budgeting.”

“What is it that we need to accomplish with this agency? A, do we even need to accomplish it anymore, or is it counterproductive? B, if we do need to accomplish it: pretend it doesn’t exist — how do you create the most efficient possible system to do that for the least money, and to do it the best way from the ground up? And then kind of juxtapose and replace the old with the new,” he said. “The way that they seem to be doing it is just sort of tearing down the old without necessarily having a more efficient way of doing it.”

Polis, who took the helm as chair of the bipartisan National Governors Association last year, touted repealing more than 200 old state executive orders and looking to remove “unnecessary rules and regulations” in Colorado. He said that federal efforts to make “compliance easier in certain areas” would benefit states’ pushes to make their governments more efficient as well.

“We literally have employees that just sit there to comply with federal requirements, so I’d love to find a way where if they make the federal requirements easier, we can then downsize the state people that are simply filing federal paperwork as their entire jobs,” he said.

Polis also shared thoughts on other areas in which the Trump administration could be doing things differently, including on tariffs, which he called a “self-inflicted wound that would raise prices, increase inflation and destroy jobs.”

The governor is often outspoken — especially online, with his notable social media presence. (“I had to learn what commercial media was,” he said on Thursday. “I had no idea what the networks were or anything, because that’s where I live, online.”) In November, he shared his support on X for Kennedy as Trump’s HHS pick, which drew some blowback from some other Democrats.

Polis said on Thursday that he does not agree with Kennedy on “some of the nutty stuff he believes,” and clarified that he is “obviously pro-vaccine.” But he said he is “excited because he’s going to shake up HHS.”

“I hope he’s not too controlled by Republican special interests, but they need to let him go to really focus on the health of the American people,” Polis said. “I take him at his word. Obviously, I would oppose if he in any way interferes with people’s ability to protect themselves from deadly diseases. I would be among the first to criticize that.”

But despite bolstering his national presence over the years, the former member of Congress is mum on his plans for 2028. At last year’s POLITICO’s Governors Summit, Polis, who is term-limited in 2026, didn’t rule out a presidential bid. When asked about potential presidential aspirations on Thursday, he said he is “really focused on the job that I have.”

“I don’t have any plans to even think about that,” he said. When asked whether he was taking the possibility of running for president off the table, Polis responded that it “wasn’t even on the table.”

Politics

Byron Donalds says he is not a ‘yes man’ to Trump

Published

22 hours ago

October 9, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Byron Donalds says he is not a ‘yes man’ to Trump

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Politics

Justice Democrats announce new executive director

Published

2 days ago

October 8, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The progressive political action committee Justice Democrats has appointed Rev. Hodari Williams as its new executive director. The change sets the organization up to hone a civil rights message ahead of the 2028 election cycle, Williams told Blue Light News.

His appointment, shared first with Blue Light News, comes at a time when self-proclaimed progressives (and socialists) are flooding the scene. The PAC has had its most successful election cycle ever, helping seven candidates — including Donavan McKinney in Michigan, Melat Kiros in Colorado and Darializa Avila Chevalier in New York — defeat incumbents in the primaries. While those candidates are heavily favored to win on Election Day, the fates of three other Justice Democrats candidates, including Tennessee’s state Rep. Justin Pearson, remain less certain going into November.

At one point, the group tried to get Williams to run for office. Though he declined, Williams said now is the right time to force change.

“America and its present-day politicians, from my experience, have a high blood pressure of promises and anemia of political courage,” Williams said in an interview, using a common Kenyan political expression. “Right now, JD is producing candidates who have the political courage to deal with the crises that are existing in marginalized and disenfranchised communities, and I want to be a part of that.”

Rev. Hodari Williams is the new executive director of the progressive PAC Justice Democrats.

Williams, 46, was born and raised in Lakewood, New Jersey. His parents were activists and community organizers who raised him on the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement. After graduating from Francis Marion University in Florence, South Carolina, with his bachelor’s degree, he joined the NAACP as a field organizer for voter rights and empowerment while pursuing his Master’s of Divinity at the Interdenominational Theological Center. In his time with the NAACP, Williams traveled across the Black Belt, where he said he witnessed poverty and inequity up close.

“Civil rights traditionally has been something that people have tried to separate from progressivism … but these movements are inseparable,” said Williams. “What I witnessed in the South as a worker in voter rights and voter empowerment and education, and as a regional representative for the NAACP, was that the conditions that created inequity still existed and needed to be confronted and challenged.”

His work took him to Kenya, where he served as a program coordinator with the Presbyterian Church USA. In Nairobi, he supported the Green Belt Movement’s work against deforestation and its mission to highlight environmental justice as a tool for economic empowerment and self-determination.

Now, as some Black and brown voters express concerns of being tokenized by traditional Democratic candidates, Williams plans to bring his experience working in racial justice circles to his new role.

“I have worked in communities that have borne the brunt of failed promises from the current Democratic leadership,” Williams said. “I have opened the doors of my congregations to politicians and have experienced the absence of those politicians after the elections.”

He continued: “Black communities have become destinations for environmental hazards and data centers. Unemployment has risen. Black federal employees have been targeted. The list goes on. I’ve pastored these people. I’ve prayed with them. I’ve listened to them as they’ve shed tears. Now I’ve decided I want to move from triage work to really transformational work.”

Some of that work will require challenging other Black leaders.

“Unfortunately, many of our Black politicians have become victims of corporate capture, and their voices have been taken by entities like AIPAC,” said Williams, referring to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. “They have not really been able to stand for the issues that are affecting the communities that that many of us are fighting for, and JD candidates are free from that, and they’re free to take bold and significant action to move forward legislation.”

But with the 2026 election cycle nearly over, the PAC is already brainstorming how to establish a strong progressive coalition for the 2028 presidential election. That will mean convincing the mainstream Democratic party that Justice Democrats have built a lasting coalition of the party’s base, said Williams.

“We hope that the Democratic Party would see that we’re developing a blueprint to show them how the base is being energized around the issues that are kitchen table issues that people want us to deal with,” said Williams.

“It’s not enough for us just to have a call to defeat a fascist president. We don’t want a fascist president. We want him out, but we also want a vision of what America could look like when affordability, healthcare, civil rights, housing, and livable wages — all of those things are at the top of the political agenda,” he added.

Williams succeeds current executive director and co-founder Alexandra Rojas, who will become president of Justice Democrats’ board and will support Williams as a senior adviser.

Politics

Iowa’s Ashley Hinson slams the savings habits of millennials

Published

2 days ago

October 8, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Iowa Rep. Ashley Hinson took a swipe at the savings habits of millennials as she fielded a question Wednesday about Social Security during a Senate campaign debate.

Hinson, the Republican candidate facing off against Democrat state Rep. Josh Turek, was asked about ensuring the solvency of Social Security when she raised the broader prospect of savings by millennials, the demographic consisting of people born from 1981-1996.

She said the country needed to have a “serious conversation” about “how young people are saving money,” as part of the discussion about the future of Social Security.

“We also need to be talking about millennials saving money,” she later added. “Millennials are the worst group of savers in the country right now and have the least amount of savings. So those are ways where I think we can help have a bigger conversation around saving in general, planning for retirement, and making sure we’re all able to experience a robust retirement.”

Hinson faces a tough race in Iowa against Turek amid a difficult political environment for Republicans. Voters are overwhelmingly pessimistic about the state of the economy and their own personal finances, and they support Social Security while being concerned about the program’s future.

Hinson said she would not support cutting benefits and suggested creating a bipartisan commission to present suggestions to Congress to save the program. When pushed on her statement that “all options should be on the table,” she turned her attention to young people.

“I think my dad and I had this discussion when I was in sixth grade, looking at a ledger book and trying to figure out, hey, how are we going to make sure you’re set up for your life?” she said. “So we need to be having a conversation simultaneously to all solutions on the table, to make sure that it can stay solvent, while we’re also talking about, how do we get more young people to save?”

Hinson’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for clarification.

Turek, when asked about Social Security, said he supports removing the payroll tax cap.

“The best way we can keep this solvent is by taking off the cap,” Turek said. “Let’s make sure that billionaires and large corporations are paying their fair share. That will move the needle in a very serious way to keep Social Security solvent.”

Hinson disagreed. “The only thing I’m hearing from him is that the only solution to everything is to raise taxes,” she said.