Democratic Governor of Colorado Jared Polis is known for his bipartisan efforts: he’s the chairman of the bipartisan National Governors Association, and was one of the few Democrats to speak at the Principles First Summit, the annual conference in Washington, DC hosted by a group of anti-Trump conservatives.
[NOTE: Other speakers at the Principles First Summit included Former NJ Governor Chris Christie, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, billionaire businessman Mark Cuban, Trump’s former National Security Advisor John Bolton, former RNC Chairman and Lt. Gov. of Maryland Michael Steele, former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) and former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, among others.]
Like the other attendees of the Principles First Summit, Polis took issue with the second Trump administration and its federal funding cuts.
When the Trump administration last week paused a federal grant program that allocates billions of dollars to states to expand electric vehicle charging stations, Polis responded on X by writing: “Electric vehicles are saving people money and protecting our air but the Trump administration is trying to put Colorado EV drivers in a pothole.”
The National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program (NEVI) was set to deliver $57 million to Colorado.
Electric vehicles are saving people money and protecting our air but the Trump administration is trying to put Colorado EV drivers in a pothole.https://t.co/9BORj2YMEL pic.twitter.com/grOlG6Ap1B
— Governor Jared Polis (@GovofCO) February 22, 2025
Will Toor, executive director of the Colorado Energy Office, told local ABC news outlet Denver 7: “We were looking at over $50 million over five years of available [sic] for EV charging, and assuming that the the federal government honors the contracts that we’ve already signed, I think we would be looking at about $17 million of projects actually being federally funded, and with the the rest of the money, you know, totally unclear.”
Polis’s comments about the federal funding pause is being met with opposition from Republicans including Colorado State Representative Ken deGraaf who replied: “Dem Logic: spending billions of your dollars is saving you money.”
Dem Logic: spending billions of your dollars is saving you money
— Rep Ken deGraaf, CO HD-22 (@COrepKdeGraaf) February 23, 2025
Prior to becoming a full-on MAGA supporter, Elon Musk agreed in February 2023 to open up Tesla’s charging network to non-Tesla electric vehicles after the U.S. federal government (during the Biden administration) said it would pay for the conversion of existing Tesla chargers or the construction of new ones to accommodate EVs built by other companies including Ford, GM, Hyundai, Kia, Volvo, and Volkswagen.
In February 2025, President Trump told states to stop spending money for EV charging infrastructure, funds that had been allocated during the Biden administration. Trump called federal funding for EV chargers “an incredible waste of taxpayer dollars.”
Tesla has received millions of dollars through the Department of Transportation program that was just halted but, according to PBS News, will continue to expand its network “and likely still benefit from its competitors receiving fewer funds.”