The parking lot at Fellowship Church in Grand Junction was crowded for a Friday summer evening. People filed inside the large building past security guards checking bags. They were greeted by Victor Marx campaign volunteers holding iPads, to collect contact information, and ask them to fill out a survey before and after Marx’s speech. There was a table selling Marx merchandise, and a curtain backdrop station for selfies.
It was a two-hour event for Colorado’s GOP gubernatorial nominee, a warm-up act with a variety of speakers from his campaign to local elected leaders, and then Marx took the stage. In his uphill quest for Colorado’s highest state office, he leaned into his status as a political outsider and his Christian faith.
“I’ll just get this right out the bat. I was told by consultants in the very beginning, ‘Don’t talk about God too much in your campaign. There’s a lot of people that don’t believe in God in Colorado. It can hurt you.’ I was like, ‘You ain’t separating me from God for no election. I can tell you right now.’” The crowd cheered and he joked, “People don’t want to see me without God. There’s a whole different person right there.”
He was quick to point out that he’s not trying to be a preacher as governor.
“I’m a man of the law to fulfill the constitution and work for the people of Colorado. That’s the role. And it’s an executive role. It’s not a preacher role.”
Marx is Colorado’s larger-than-life Republican gubernatorial candidate mired in questions about his background. He is probably most well known for attention grabbing headlines like talking to Satan, surviving childhood abuse and being forced by his stepfather to kill a man when he was 7 years old, and performing exorcisms.
He narrowly won a three-way primary contest to secure his spot on the ballot by defeating two sitting state lawmakers, raising nearly $2 million more than his opponents combined from more than 20,000 donors. He’s now up against Democratic nominee and current Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser this fall. Colorado hasn’t elected a Republican governor in more than two decades.
“This isn’t a normal election. This has become a movement,” he told the crowd to loud cheers.
“This is what it is. That is exactly why they’ve come against me so hard. I’ve talked to people who have been in this stuff for decades and they said, ‘We’ve never seen it this bad against one candidate.’ I’m the most vetted candidate in the last 50 years, I guarantee you. My gosh.”
Marx has been called a liar and a fraud as people try to understand both the full scope of his high-risk humanitarian work, and the number of women and children he said he’s rescued from trafficking in conflict zones through his Colorado Springs-based religious and humanitarian nonprofit All Things Possible Ministries.
On the campaign trail, he largely focuses on familiar Republican themes: lowering taxes and government regulations, getting the state back on track from Democratic control, making Colorado safer and affordable. He doesn’t hold back on criticizing his own party for failing to unite behind his candidacy.
“Republicans in particular have been their worst enemy. They’re very good at being divisive,” said Shelly Erkman. She’s a Republican voter from Grand Junction and supports Marx and wants conservatives to come together.
“And if that doesn’t happen, well, we’ll be right back where we were. We really need to get behind one person and not be divided like that. I think it’s huge, and I see it and it’s petty. Maybe that’s why I like Victor Marx is because he’s not a politician and he hasn’t played the game and he’s not interested in playing it either.”
Marx’s outsider message also resonated with Grand Junction voter Paulette Bourget.
“I feel like Victor Marx is someone who cares and who is brave enough to do something about it and hold people accountable and be honest. And bottom line is I am a believer in God and I feel like when you acknowledge him and revere him, he will give you wisdom and strength to accomplish good things,” she said.
One thing Marx doesn’t talk about much, the current president.
Marx told CPR News that, while he respects President Donald Trump on some things, he’s never been a MAGA person.
“People have tried to ask me that. I go, ‘You’ve never seen me with a MAGA hat.’ I became a Republican under President Reagan when I served in the Marine Corps.
“I had somebody ask me, ‘Are you MAGA enough to win?’ I go, ‘No, I’m Coloradan enough to win.’ And I proved it. I proved it.”
He did win the primary, but faces his toughest test yet against a well-seasoned and established candidate in Weiser, who has united Democrats after a hard-fought primary race to defeat Sen. Michael Bennet.
Weiser has years of governing experience and is widely liked among Democrats. His campaign has focused on affordability, defending freedoms, pushing back against President Donald Trump and protecting the environment. He told CPR News that despite Colorado’s blue political leanings, he’s not taking anything in the Marx race for granted.
“My mindset follows the wise counsel I got, which is if you’re not running unopposed, you’re running scared. Or put differently, I’ve only got one speed, it’s all in,” Weiser said.
Recently the two campaigns have not been able to agree on an in-person debate. Marx is pushing for an unmoderated discussion, not the typical media-organized event. Weiser wants to participate in traditional candidate debates and has already debated the unaffiliated candidate for governor, Greg Lopez.
“The reality is governing is a serious business and we’ve got to have an organized conversation,” Weiser said. “The suggestion that we should conduct campaigns like professional wrestling matches is unserious and not what I’m going to entertain.”
Victor Marx bursts onto political stage
Marx was a political unknown who entered the governor’s race with a massive social media following of 3 million, a podcast, and grew a grassroots campaign. He eschewed a lot of traditional media, and during the primary only participated in one televised debate moderated by 9News.
His Republican primary opponents called him a liar and said he was unfit for the job of governor.
“He makes up these tall tales, these tall stories, and I just don’t believe them,” said State Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer during their one debate. “He talks about homicidal and suicidal tendencies. Makes me a little worried about being in rooms with him.”
Some prominent Republicans have said they don’t plan to vote for him, calling his potential win a long-shot and a drag on other races. During two Western Slope campaign stops, Marx didn’t even mention his opponent Phil Weiser, but he did go after Republicans and Democrats more broadly.
He called the GOP state assembly a dumpster fire that lacked leadership. The GOP has its third state party chair in just a few years because of infighting. He didn’t have kind words for the media.
“My mother, 83 years old, and they doxed her. And because I come from a tough background and my mom had married six times, they did their research and put every man she had been married to, to try to shame her.”
The crowd murmured disapprovingly, and Marx paused, leaning into the microphone.
“Yeah, that wasn’t the Democrats. That was Republicans.”
Some gasped.
“Everybody goes, those Democrats? Hell no, it’s the Republicans. It’s people identified as Republicans. Now they may be operatives as Democrats in the Republican Party, which wouldn’t surprise me one bit. But what bothered me is other candidates used that fodder to attack me.”
It’s unclear the extent of the doxing Marx was referring to. His campaign provided names of a podcaster and former GOP official who circulated those names.
Marx also criticized 9News’ Kyle Clark and said he’s the mouthpiece of the liberal media. Marx reflected on one of the viral moments of that 9News debate when Clark asked how voters should discern whether Marx has had one of the most extraordinary lives in human history, such as claims of rescuing women and children from captivity, stopping human smugglers at the Mexico border, calling in, as a civilian, a U.S. military airstrike that killed 70 ISIS fighters, and being the first American into Gaza during the war with Israel, or, “whether you are a liar and a fraud?” Clark said.
“And I remember him saying either you’ve lived one of the most extraordinary lives in human history or you’re a liar or a cheat or whatever. Grifter? Call me a grifter. I had to look that one up. I’m literally like, what’s a grifter? I remember just saying, ‘Are you telling me that people can’t come from some of the worst circumstances in life and have God redeem their life for a greater good? Because he does that. And many of you know it right here.’”
Marx said he believes a higher calling led to his gubernatorial run.
“Look, I’m the type of person, God made me to run toward the chaos to bring order. That’s me. I have not lived a normal life.”
Marx’s policy positions
One of his biggest applause lines in Grand Junction was a pledge to bring back plastic bags.
“Let’s go, baby. I said from the beginning, I can win just on that. We can put that on a bumper sticker. But why? Why do y’all about lose your minds when I say with joy when I bring that up? Because it’s so symbolic that people underneath that golden dome don’t think they have to treat us like kids and take away a right to choose for a plastic bag,” he said.
He said he backs zero-based budgeting, and wants to audit the state government more thoroughly.
“Not simply start from the prior year’s budget, automatically add to it,” he told CPR News. “The government should be asking what is the most efficient way to deliver this service rather than how much money did we spend last year?”
He tells voters to remember three points he tries to hammer home.
“Affordability, security, and accountability. It’s ASA. Everybody say ‘ASA.’ I need you to be able to tell people when they say, ‘What’s he believe? What’s his policy?’ You go, ‘It’s ASA. He’s going to make our state affordable, safe, and accountable again.’”
It’s the same message he told about 50 people at a meet and greet at the Hotel Colorado in Glenwood Springs.
“He was just genuine and not …. He wasn’t trying to put on a show necessarily. He was just having a conversation,” said 20-year-old construction worker Judah Womack from Rifle. He said he’s excited to vote for Marx.
Womack said he’s on team Jesus and whoever is most closely aligned with that. He’s frustrated that not all Republicans will get behind Marx, even if they don’t agree with him on everything. He’s just starting to dip his toes into politics and said the level of toxicity on both sides of the aisle is a shock.
“When we pledge allegiance and stuff like that, are we actually one nation or are we just like this us versus you versus me? Everybody, it’s like, ‘No, we need to be one nation.’ It’s like, ‘Yes, I know you may think different politically and stuff like that, but what’s the end goal here?’ You know what I mean? Is it just to create two teams and then fight each other?”
In recent months, Marx has steered away from hot-button red meat political topics. When he talks to voters he doesn’t focus on trans issues, parental rights, abortion, illegal immigration, pedophila rings, or stolen elections. His campaign said it’s an effort to talk about issues voters care about such as affordability.
Every conservative voter CPR talked to mentioned the high cost of living.
“Just recently, one of my sons that moved to Ohio for work said, ‘Mom, I would really love to come home. I can’t afford to.’ And I would love to have my kids be close,” Erkman said as she teared up.
Bev Christiansan is a retired long-time resident of Mintern on a fixed income and said because of some back tax issues she and her husband may need to sell their home.
“I was born in Colorado. I never wanted to leave Colorado, but I don’t think I can afford to stay here,” she said as tears fell down her cheeks.
“I’d like to know what they’re spending my taxes on because I don’t understand it anymore.”
It’s not just conservatives. Across the political spectrum, affordability ranks as a top issue this election cycle and it’s a topic candidates on all sides are focused on. Unaffiliated voters compose the largest share of the state’s electorate.
Democrats are warning voters not to be fooled by his pivot from social issues. The party recently held a press conference to highlight some of Marx’s past conservative statements critical of abortion rights.
“Victor Marx’s campaign for governor will always come back to his extreme views and reckless behavior,” said Shad Murib, chair of the Colorado Democratic Party. “He can’t tell voters the truth about his background, or even what those outrageous stories have to do with being governor. Marx has shown utter contempt toward women and our most basic freedoms. His campaign is pushing a far-right agenda, not focused on solving problems or helping Colorado move forward.”
Marx’s campaign spent the weekend in southern Colorado at the state fair in Pueblo and events in Pueblo West and Canon City. Later this week he’s heading to Douglas County. He also has a hearing scheduled Thursday on a complaint from the state that his campaign accepted donations above the state’s legal donation limits.
Voters will get one chance to hear Marx and his Democratic opponent meet in person to discuss issues next month. The Colorado Chamber of Commerce is hosting a forum on economic issues. Both Weiser and Marx have agreed to attend.
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