--- title: Jared Polis Withdraws Controversial Fracking Ballot Initiatives in Colorado description: Vulnerable Colorado Democrats breathe a sigh of relief canonical: https://time.com/3079815/fracking-jared-polis-colorado-udall/ author: Jay Newton-Small article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-04T17:55:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:29:36.906Z article:section: Politics og:title: Jared Polis Withdraws Controversial Fracking Ballot Initiatives in Colorado og:description: Vulnerable Colorado Democrats breathe a sigh of relief og:url: https://time.com/3079815/fracking-jared-polis-colorado-udall/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86fe72752118651b/69869b9ae53aba60144d38f2/jared-polis-fracking.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5760 og:image:height: 3240 og:image:alt: U.S. Representative Jared Polis during the Colorado Democratic Party's State Assembly in Denver on April 12, 2014. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jared Polis Withdraws Controversial Fracking Ballot Initiatives in Colorado twitter:description: Vulnerable Colorado Democrats breathe a sigh of relief twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86fe72752118651b/69869b9ae53aba60144d38f2/jared-polis-fracking.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Democrat Jared Polis Withdraws Support for Colorado Fracking Initiatives > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Jay Newton-Small](https://time.com/author/jay-newton-small/)  ## Jay Newton-Small Aug 4, 2014 5:55 PM UTC  U.S. Representative Jared Polis during the Colorado Democratic Party's State Assembly in Denver on April 12, 2014. U.S. Representative Jared Polis during the Colorado Democratic Party's State Assembly in Denver on April 12, 2014. David Zalubowski—AP  by [Jay Newton-Small](https://time.com/author/jay-newton-small/)  ## Jay Newton-Small Aug 4, 2014 5:55 PM UTC Rep. Jared Polis, a Colorado Democrat, announced at a press conference on Monday that he would be withdrawing his support for ballot initiatives restricting fracking in Colorado. The move comes as a relief to fellow Democrats worried that the initiatives would’ve driven out Republican voters in the fall. In exchange for withdrawing the controversial initiatives, Polis won a blue-ribbon panel that will be set up to analyze whatever problems might exist. The panel will propose fixes over the next six months to a year. The initiatives had so scared Democrats that Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper had spent the better part of the last month trying to come up with a legislative compromise so he could call the state legislature back into a special session to waylay Polis. But with an Aug. 4 deadline to lock in ballot initiatives, hope for a legislative fix was dwindling. Meanwhile, Democrats have privately and publicly called on Polis to withdraw the initiatives, but he has refused to do so, saying the Democratic base supports these moves. While that is true, many Democrats worried the fracking issue could draw pro-Republican advertising into the 2014 election in Colorado, motivating more Republicans to vote while hurting Democratic chances among independent voters. At stake was Democrat Hickenlooper’s tough reelection, along with the reelection of fellow Democratic Senator Mark Udall—and, given the electoral map, potential control of the U.S. Senate. Oil and gas groups were gearing up to pour in $20 million in Colorado to defeat the initiatives, which they say would’ve essentially halved or effectively halted fracking in Colorado. Fracking generated $29.5 billion in economic activity in Colorado in 2012, creating 111,000 direct jobs with an average wage of $74,811, according to the Colorado Petroleum Association. Polis argued that it’s such a big issue for his constituents, he cannot ignore the problem. He has also introduced federal legislation, which has stalled in the GOP-controlled House. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3079815/fracking-jared-polis-colorado-udall/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3079815/fracking-jared-polis-colorado-udall/"},"headline":"Democrat Jared Polis Withdraws Support for Colorado Fracking Initiatives","datePublished":"2014-08-04T17:55:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:29:36.906Z","description":"Vulnerable Colorado Democrats breathe a sigh of relief","url":"https://time.com/3079815/fracking-jared-polis-colorado-udall/","keywords":["2014 Election","Colorado","energy","fracking"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86fe72752118651b/69869b9ae53aba60144d38f2/jared-polis-fracking.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jay Newton-Small","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jay-newton-small/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt86fe72752118651b/69869b9ae53aba60144d38f2/jared-polis-fracking.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"U.S. Representative Jared Polis during the Colorado Democratic Party's State Assembly in Denver on April 12, 2014.","caption":"U.S. Representative Jared Polis during the Colorado Democratic Party's State Assembly in Denver on April 12, 2014.","creditText":"David Zalubowski—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2014-election/","name":"2014 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3079815/fracking-jared-polis-colorado-udall/","name":"Democrat Jared Polis Withdraws Support for Colorado Fracking Initiatives"}}]}] ```