Victor Marx wins Colorado’s Republican primary for governor
Victor Marx, the unconventional, first-time candidate running to be Colorado’s next governor, won the three-way GOP primary on Thursday — more than a week after polls closed — edging out state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer for a chance to become the state’s first Republican leader in 20 years.
The Associated Press called the race for Marx just after 4 p.m. on Thursday when he was leading Kirkmeyer by less than a percentage point, or roughly 2,500 votes. That’s just enough margin to avoid an automatic recount under Colorado law.
Marx had 39.9% of the vote to Kirkmeyer’s 39.4% when the race was called.
State Rep. Scott Bottoms of Colorado Springs was in a distant third place, with 21% of the vote.
Kirkmeyer was leading Marx on election night, but by the following evening, after more votes were tallied, Marx took the lead and never again lost it.
”This victory belongs to every volunteer and supporter who refused to give up on our state,” Marx said in a video posted Thursday on social media. “I am grateful beyond words. Now the real work begins.”
Marx, a 61-year-old Marine veteran and ministry leader who lives just north of Colorado Springs, turned his national social media following and extraordinary, albeit mostly unprovable, life story into a successful campaign against Kirkmeyer and Bottoms.
His campaign has been more focused on personality than policy as he sold Republican primary voters on his leadership style rather than concrete plans for the state.
Marx will face Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser in November in a much different race. Republicans haven’t won a statewide race in Colorado since 2016, and the last GOP candidate for governor lost by nearly 20 percentage points in 2022.
Bill Owens was Colorado’s last Republican governor, serving from 1999 to 2007.
In a written statement Thursday, Weiser called Marx’s nomination “a threat to our state’s values and our future.”
Whoever wins the governor’s race in November will replace term-limited Gov. Jared Polis early next year.
Marx won the primary despite questions about his fitness to be governor, which intensified after he refused to answer a question from 9News anchor Kyle Clark about how many people he had killed in his work as a self-described high-risk missionary during operations he says he carried out across the globe. That moment went viral and was panned on late-night TV.
Marx has also said he was forced by his stepfather to kill a man when he was 7 years old.
With no experience in politics or government, Marx jumped into the governor’s race last year, he says, because of his and his wife’s frustrations with the direction of Colorado. He was relatively unknown in Colorado political circles, but had a large national social media following because of his stories about international work rescuing women and children.
Marx tapped into that following to become the fundraising leader in the Republican primary. He also used it as a way to communicate directly with voters and sidestep campaign norms, like appearing at debates and forums.
Kirkmeyer, 67, was the establishment favorite to win the Republican primary, winning endorsements from Owens, U.S. Rep. Gabe Evans and The Gazette newspaper in Colorado Springs. But she struggled to fundraise and match Marx’s momentum.
Kirkmeyer and Bottoms said during the campaign that they wouldn’t support Marx in the general election if he won the primary.
Kirkmeyer said during a debate that she thinks Marx is unfit to be governor and “would be a disaster for our state.” Bottoms called Marx a “con man.”
Kirkmeyer’s defeat could mean the end of the political line for a woman who has helped define the Republican Party in Colorado for a generation. She still has two years left in her state Senate term, but after losing the gubernatorial primary this year and a 2022 congressional bid, Kirkmeyer’s future in politics is uncertain.
In a written statement Thursday acknowledging her loss, Kirkmeyer didn’t throw her weight behind Marx.
“Now the voters will make the final decision in November, and I hope they choose the path that is best for Colorado,” she said. “While we came up short in what appears to be the closest Republican gubernatorial primary in Colorado history, I’m grateful for every voter who placed their trust in us. I’m still proud of the campaign we ran … and, for the record, I still haven’t killed anyone.”