DENVER (AP) — The Latest on the 2018 election’s impact on the outdoor industry (all times local):
1 p.m.
Colorado Gov.-elect Jared Polis is pledging to protect the state’s public lands and promote its outdoor recreation industry.
Polis, a Democrat, spoke Thursday at the Outdoor Retailer Winter Market in Denver, a trade show of outdoor goods.
Polis said outdoor recreation provides 229,000 jobs and $2 billion a year in state and local tax revenue in Colorado, and he promised to be an “evangelist” for the industry.
Polis is currently a U.S. representative. He defeated Republican state Treasurer Walker Stapleton on Tuesday and will succeed John Hickenlooper, a term-limited Democrat.
Polis said the Trump administration is often hostile to protecting public lands and vowed to stand up against what he called bad federal policy.
He said Utah is suffering because its leaders didn’t resist the Trump administration, an apparent reference to the administration’s decision to shrink Bears Ears National Monument there.
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11:40 a.m.
An outdoor industry retailers group says its first venture into electoral politics was a success.
The political director of the Outdoor Industry Association, Alex Boian (BOY’-an), said Thursday the group endorsed 23 candidates for the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House or governor in the midterm elections, and 20 won.
The association also made campaign contributions through its political action committee but the amounts weren’t immediately available.
Fifteen of the candidates the group endorsed were Democrats and eight were Republicans.
Boian says President Donald Trump’s decision to shrink the Bears Ears National Monument in Utah helped spur the association to jump into politics.
The association says its industry generates $887 billion a year and is responsible for 7.6 million jobs nationwide.
