No, Jared Polis Was Not Hacked. He's Really Excited About RFK Jr.

Governor Jared Polis left Coloradans bewildered when the former vocal critic of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. celebrated Donald Trump's choice of RFK Jr. to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

"I’m excited by the news that the President-Elect will appoint [Kennedy] to [HHS]," Polis wrote on his personal X account today, November 14. "He helped us defeat vaccine mandates in Colorado in 2019 and will help make America healthy again by shaking up HHS and FDA."

Under the congratulatory post, commenters questioned whether the governor was pulling a very early April Fools' prank. Some wondered if they had mistakenly stumbled upon a Polis parody account. Several others, including members of Westword's office group chat, speculated that the governor's page had been hacked.

But Polis's office tells Westword that's not the case.

"As of right now, he was not hacked," says Ally Sullivan, a spokesperson for the governor. Asked if the Kennedy post was legitimate, Sullivan says, “That is on his personal [account], yes.”

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

The skepticism is warranted. Less than three months ago, Polis posted some very contradictory thoughts on Kennedy compared to today's praise.

On August 25, a video emerged of Kennedy saying he would be "campaigning actively” with then-presidential candidate, now president-elect Trump and that the pair wanted to "make America healthy again." In response, Polis wrote: "Not sure how bringing back Measles and bringing back Polio makes anyone more healthy..."

Polis was referring to how Kennedy, a famous anti-vaxer, has been accused of stoking fears about vaccines in Samoa that led to a measles outbreak that killed 83 people.

Kennedy was also a leading voice in the movement falsely claiming that vaccines cause autism; he said that COVID-19 vaccines killed healthy young people, including one twelve-year-old who’d never received the vaccine; and he's repeatedly suggested that chemicals in water make children gay. Some of his other controversies include dumping a dead bear in Central Park and having part of his brain eaten by a worm.

But now, Colorado's governor is wholly embracing the controversial figure, even echoing Kennedy's "make America healthy again" slogan.

"I hope he leans into personal choice on vaccines rather than bans (which I think are terrible, just like mandates)," Polis wrote in the lengthy post, "but what I’m most optimistic about is taking on big pharma and the corporate ag oligopoly to improve our health."

Polis provided a series of Kennedy's past quotes, pointing to his desire to lower prescription drug prices, reduce pesticides in agriculture and reform nutritional standards. Polis urged his followers to read Kennedy's thoughts on those issues "before you mock him or disagree."

That did not prevent the swift wave of backlash. Fellow Democrats, including Michigan Senator Dayna Polehanki and Colorado representatives Javier Mabrey and David Ortiz, slammed Polis online. Ortiz accused the governor of "pathetic pandering...in the wake of Dems losing" the presidential election.

The pushback was so intense that Polis offered a second post an hour after the first, saying that he supports vaccines and noting that he and his family are vaccinated. "Science must remain THE cornerstone of our nation’s health policy and the science-backed decision to get vaccinated improves public health and safety," Polis said, while also re-emphasizing his alignment with Kennedy on drug prices, pesticides and nutrition issues.

At least one person cheered on Polis's endorsement: Kennedy himself, who gave Polis a thank-you reply in which he misspelled the governor's name.

"Thank you, Governor Polish," Kennedy wrote in the since-deleted post. "I look forward to working with you. MAHA."

Should have just gone with “sorry I was hacked”

— Ben Yelin (@byelin) November 14, 2024

For the record, Polis's office offered an additional statement on the subject early on November 15: “Governor Polis has not changed his view as a whole on RFK Jr. or on the Governor’s previously stated concerns regarding some of RFK Jr’s positions. While opposed to RFK’s positions on a host of issues, including vaccines, and banning fluoridation, he would appreciate seeing action on pesticides and efforts to lower prescription drug costs and if Trump is going to nominate someone like him then let them also take on soda, processed food, pesticides and heavy metals contamination. But he definitely does not endorse actions that would lead to measles outbreaks and opposes unscientific propaganda that undermines confidence in the lifesaving impact of vaccines. The Governor himself was vaccinated last week with the flu vaccine and the COVID vaccine.”