Green group launches six-figure campaign backing Dem in Colorado governor’s race

A major environmental group is spending six figures on a comprehensive campaign supporting Rep. Jared Polis (D) in his Colorado gubernatorial bid.

The Sierra Club’s Independent Expenditure Committee said its big push for Polis in the final week before Election Day includes phone banking, digital advertising and mailers.

The mailers focus on Polis’s support for renewable energy and protecting public lands, and argue that “Colorado’s public lands won’t survive” GOP candidate Walker Stapleton.

{mosads}The Colorado gubernatorial race is one of the most closely watched in the nation.

Recent polling shows Polis comfortably ahead of Stapleton, including a YouGov poll released last week that had the Democrat with 54 percent of the vote, to the Republican’s 42 percent.

“Jared Polis is the governor Colorado needs to protect our public land and public health while standing up to Donald Trump and his attacks on the environment,” said Jim Alexee, director of the Colorado Sierra Club Chapter, pointing in part to Polis’s commitment to 100 percent renewable electricity in Colorado by 2040.

“Polis will be a governor who stands with the people of Colorado and their public lands, while Walker Stapleton would stand with the polluters and their allies by putting our public lands at risk,” Alexee said.

The Sierra Club Independent Expenditure Committee, an arm of the Sierra Club, declined to say the exact cost of the pro-Polis campaign.