Denver City Wire

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis took to Facebook Nov. 9 to acknowledge the results of the general election, in which he defeated his challengers to claim a second term as governor.

"Thank you, Colorado! I am deeply honored to be your choice to continue to lead the great state of Colorado," he said in a post. "We have gotten some important things done together the last few years including making preschool and kindergarten available for every child, passing the largest property tax cut in the history of Colorado along with two income tax cuts, capping the out-of-pocket costs of insulin, and much more.

"But I also know there is a lot of work ahead to further reduce costs for Coloradans, especially for big ticket items like healthcare and housing, and to make every community safer," he continued. "I look forward to working hard for you these next four years as your governor."

Polis, a Democrat, defeated challengers Heidi Ganahl, and Kevin Ruskusky, with 57.5% of the ballot, or 1,117,463 votes, according to Politico. Ganahl received 785,068 votes, and Ruskusky received 20,349.

"The fact is we did something simple," Polis said in his speech after the results were announced. "We focused on issues that really affect people's lives and we delivered real results. We focused on lowering costs and more freedom. We led with rational data-driven COVID policies that supported personal freedom and responsibility and resulted in Colorado having the ninth-lowest COVID death rate in the entire nation."

Polis acknowledged that Colorado didn't have the safety record he wanted, and he said his goal was to make Colorado “one of the 10 safest states in the nation,” Colorado Public Radio reported. Colorado is currently ranked 21st worst for violent crime.

Polis said increased funding for police and mental health reform could be potential solutions, CPR reported.