Victor Marx wins Colorado Republican primary for governor

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(The Center Square) - First-time candidate Victor Marx narrowly beat out veteran state lawmaker Barb Kirkmeyer to win the Colorado Republican primary for governor.

The results came more than a week after election night and with a voter margin of less than 3,000. Marx will now face off against Democratic Attorney General Phil Weiser in the gubernatorial race in the Nov. 3 general election.

“I am humbled to be the Republican nominee for Governor of Colorado,” Marx said in a video statement Thursday. “Thank you to every voter, volunteer and supporter who helped us get here.”

The Center Square reached out Friday to Marx for comment, but did not hear back by publication time.

The results come after a contentious and fiery primary race among the three most well-funded Republican candidates. Frequent attacks defined a June debate between the candidates, with Marx calling his opponents incapable of winning the general election. 

Marx’s two Republican opponents in the primary – state Sen. Kirkmeyer, R-Larimer and Weld counties, and State Rep. Scott Bottoms, R-El Paso County – said they would not endorse Marx if he were elected.

As of late Friday afternoon, Marx had tallied 208,455 (39.86%) votes to Kirkmeyer’s 205,990 (39.39%), out of a total 522,974 votes, according to the Colorado Secretary of State's Office. Bottoms was a distant third with 108,529 votes (20.75%). All but two counties, San Juan and Costilla, had completed vote counts for the June 30 primary.

Kirkmeyer had held a brief but early lead in the election following early results on June 30. Marx had remained in front by a slim lead for the majority of the nine days before the Colorado Republican Party declared Marx's victory. 

“From the little we know about Victor Marx, his views and style are far out of step with Coloradans, and his nomination for governor is a threat to our state’s values and our future,” Weiser said in a statement emailed to The Center Square. “Governing is serious business, and Coloradans have a clear choice in this race: a politics of showing up, listening and fighting for the rights and freedoms of all – or a politics of deception, demonization, and distraction. As governor, I’ll meet this moment by fighting against lawlessness and corruption and for a brighter future for all Coloradans.”

Marx was repeatedly criticized across his primary election campaign for the personal life story he told, which many critics doubted.

A self-described high-risk humanitarian, Marx said he had completed 45,000 rescues of women and children through his nonprofit All Things Possible, but avoided the issue when pressed on the validity of the 45,000 figure in the June debate.

“Here’s the total number of kids I’ve rescued – not enough,” said Marx in response to a moderator's question about how many women and children he had saved. Marx’s campaign later removed the claim of 45,000 rescues from its website.

Despite the criticism, Marx managed to easily outraise both of his Republican opponents in the campaign, with his nearly $2.8 million more than double the combined total of Kirkmeyer and Bottoms.

Across the campaign, Marx, who had never previously run for political office, had defined himself as a political outsider, in contrast to his opponents. That difference will remain when Marx faces Weiser on Nov. 3.

Weiser, the two-term Colorado attorney general, will look to follow the last three governors, all of whom have been Democrats, going back to 2007.