July 16, 2026 11:07 AM UTC

Third-Place GOP Gubernatorial Candidate Says He’s Praying About a Potential Write-In Campaign

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• by: Jamie O'Rourke

(Onward, Christian soldier! — Promoted by Colorado Pols)

Originally posted at the Colorado Times Recorder

Far-right pastor and state Rep. Scott Bottoms (R-CO), who placed a distant third in Colorado’s Republican gubernatorial primary election, has not ruled out the possibility that he runs as a write-in candidate in the general election. In fact, he told a right-wing radio host this week he’s praying about it.

As final votes came in last week, Victor Marx had pulled into the lead with 39.9% of the vote. State Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer (R-Weld County) was just behind Marx with 39.4%. Bottoms trailed far behind both of them with 20.8% of the vote.

Allies of Bottoms, including Joe Oltmann, a podcaster who has called Colorado Democratic leaders “the Synagogue of Satan Jews” and called for their execution, have claimed that the primary election was rigged. In his Monday, July 13 interview with KVOR Radio host Richard Randall, Bottoms said he distrusts the results of this election and all other state elections.

“It was strange to me that our numbers were growing like crazy the last three or four weeks before- well before that. But I mean, like off the charts higher. And every poll, every time somebody that was pro-Marx, like Jeff Hunt or Big Timber Lodge or any of these guys, they did polls. I always won the poll, and then all of the numbers were showing me way ahead,” said Bottoms on air. “And then I only got 20%. So it is, it is interesting. I don’t know what to do with that right now. I’m not really focusing on that right now. I’ve got a lot of things I’m trying to put back into order in my existence, but yeah, it’s just, to me, this is what it is. Same old, same old in Colorado. You can’t trust any election under any circumstance.”

Marx, who has touted his career leading a “high risk ministry” and claims to have rescued thousands of children from sex trafficking, has come under fire from many Republicans, who accused him of lying about his lofty and unverifiable claims of international heroics. Both Bottoms and Kirkmeyer said they would not endorse Marx after his primary victory.

During the interview, host Richard Randall raised the possibility of Bottoms running a write-in campaign against Marx, which he said was first suggested by state Rep. Brandi Bradley (R-Littleton). Bradley’s original post on X did not say whom she thought the candidate should be.

Bottoms did not say whether he would run such a campaign, but he said a write-in candidate might be “necessary” because he expects that Marx, as well as Democratic gubernatorial nominee Phil Weiser, might be indicted for high-profile crimes before the November election.

Read the transcript of Bottoms and Randall’s full exchange below:

Richard Randall: But one of the things that she [Bradley] posted recently had to do with write-in ballots. Is that something that you would encourage, or is that something that you think your supporters and the people who’ve been supporting you during the campaign, your followers, that they should consider? Because when Brandi said that, I didn’t think she was talking about herself. I was pretty sure she was just talking about you. But, a write-in candidacy.

Scott Bottoms: Well, I don’t know what this is going to look like. I’m really praying about all of this right now. But here’s the reality. Like I said, there’s a good chance that one or both of our governor candidates could be indicted between now and November 3. Then what do we do? We have no candidates? That doesn’t make sense. And so, no, I’m praying about that and seeing if that’s a path to go forward. I’m not encouraging anybody to do anything right now, I’m not in. It’s not encouraging anybody to not support Marx or to support Marx. People are grown adults, they can make their own decisions, but I think this is going to be a very, very unique governor’s race between now and November. And I don’t think it’s going to be like anything we’ve ever seen. And something like a write-in may actually be necessary. It may not be something that, ‘that’s a nice little, another third or fourth or fifth option.’ It may be the option.

Bottoms did not immediately respond to an email asking whether he had reached any conclusions about if a write-in campaign was necessary since his Monday interview with Randall. This article will be updated with any response received.

Colorado conservatives unsatisfied with Marx already have another option in the form of Greg Lopez, who is running as an independent. Lopez, who was originally running for Governor as a Republican, has previously served as the mayor of Parker and an interim congressman in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District. If Bottoms or another Republican starts a write-in campaign, it would potentially split the conservative base three ways, in a statewide election that already leans heavily Democratic.

Far from presenting a grounded alternative to Marx, Bottoms’s campaign was marked with similarly unverifiable and evidence-free claims that he was working with the FBI to take down pedophile rings within Colorado’s state government, including the state legislature, his workplace. Bottoms previously teased that he would unmask the people involved if he won the election. Now, Bottoms says the FBI’s investigation has stalled.

“I am working with a group that is helping me get to the bottom of this quickly. And I will turn all the information that we find, I’m going to turn it over to the FBI. But I’m not going to wait for the FBI to do something about it. They’ve had all the information for a while and I don’t see or hear anything,” Bottoms said on air. “So, and they won’t tell me anything either. So we’re just going to continue to do what we’re doing.”