Updated at 6:46 p.m. on Thursday, July 9. 2026.
It took more than a week, but there’s finally a declared winner in the Republican primary for governor.
Victor Marx defeated state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer by 2,516 votes, as of 4:15 p.m. Thursday. The Associated Press called the race for Marx at 4:08 p.m.
“Now the real work begins,” Marx wrote on social media, thanking his volunteers and supporters. “Let’s face it, Colorado has changed, and not for the better. But there is hope. We can unite and build a better, stronger Colorado for all of us. This isn’t about a single political party. It’s about a single, unified Colorado! The general election starts now. Let’s go win it together.”
Marx will face an uphill climb against Democratic nominee Phil Weiser in November. The last time Colorado elected a Republican for governor was in 1998.
Weiser said in a statement that Marx is out of step with Coloradans. “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.”
Kirkmeyer ended election night with a slight lead, but as more ballots were counted, Marx took over and led for most of the week by around 2,000 votes.
Kirkmeyer thanked supporters and said they came up short in the closest Republican gubernatorial primary in Colorado history.
“Now the voters will make the final decision in November, and I hope they choose the path that is best for Colorado,” she said in a statement. “I’m still proud of the campaign we ran… and, for the record, I still haven’t killed anyone.”
Her last comment was a final dig at Marx, who, during a debate, could not answer a question on how many people he’d killed.
Rep. Scott Bottoms finished third in the primary.
Marx is a ministry leader with an unusual background for a political candidate. He’s a former enlisted Marine and martial arts instructor turned nonprofit “high risk humanitarian,” whose claim to fame are viral videos of disarming people pointing dummy guns at his head. Marx said that he was forced to kill a man in Mississippi at the behest of his stepfather when he was only seven years old, but local law enforcement there had no information on a potential homicide.
GOP worries that Marx at the top could be a drag down ballot
Marx excited the MAGA wing of the party with his tough talk about challenging the status quo in Colorado. But the prospect of him carrying the banner for the GOP in the November governor’s race has drawn concerns from more traditional Republicans.
Dick Wadhams, a former chair of the Colorado Republican Party and a political consultant, says nothing good will come from Marx at the top of the ticket.
“Victor Marx will undermine and in some cases absolutely destroy every Republican candidate in a competitive race for state Legislature and Congress, if he’s the nominee,” Wadhams said.
He’s worried that questions surrounding Marx’s past and background will spill over into other races. “It will be a huge distraction at the very least, but it will also essentially infect the other campaigns with his exaggerations.
While Marx has a large social media following, Wadhams points to a poll from the Marx campaign to support his stance that Marx could hurt downballot races.
In early May, a poll from Freedom IEC found almost 60 percent of voters would support Marx compared to 15 percent for Kirkmeyer.
The actual primary results showed a much, much tighter race. “The fact is that as voters get to know him, whether they vote every election or are low propensity voters, they don't like what they see because it isn't real.”
Patrick Davis, a GOP consultant and a campaign manager for GOP Secretary of State nominee James Wiley, thinks it might take a few weeks to see what kind of impact Marx will have downballot. He said if Marx gets out and actually talks to voters across the state, the party could have a chance to unify.
“If he doesn’t bring us together, we have to run our own races. It’s going to be every candidate for themselves,” Davis said. “There won’t be any unifying message coming from the topic of the ticket.”
He also noted Marx got about 40 percent of the vote in the Republican primary. “That’s really not a mandate for a statewide election, where most of the voters are unaffiliated and did not vote in the primary election.”
Heidi Ganahl, who was top of the GOP ticket in 2022, expressed concerns prior to the primary, urging voters to select a candidate that will not hurt important down ballot races, such as the congressional races this November.
She said back then that the focus should be on Colorado’s four congressional seats that “are genuinely competitive, genuinely at risk and genuinely worth fighting for.”
“A governor’s nominee receives a lot of attention and scrutiny. And if there are things in a candidate’s background that are questionable, toxic, whatever, they become campaign ads that run in swing districts, in those congressional districts every week until election day,” she explained.
Marx has had the support of at least one of those Republican congress members. Rep. Lauren Boebert endorsed Marx in the primary race.
Meanwhile, the Republican Rep. Gabe Evans of Colorado’s 8th Congressional District, a toss-up seat, congratulated Marx and the other statewide GOP candidates. He urged Republicans to unite “and vote red up and down the ballot” in the fall.
Editor's note: This article was updated with comments from Victor Marx and State Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer.