June 08, 2026 12:49 PM UTC

Colorado's Republican Primary for Governor Generates National Mockery

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• by: Colorado Pols

Readers of Colorado Pols are familiar with the absolutely bananas Republican gubernatorial primary taking place in Colorado, and now the rest of the country is taking notice.

Following last week’s incredible (and not in a good way) gubernatorial debate — which you can read about in full from our “Debate Diary” — the folks at “Last Week with John Oliver” got wind of the strange happenings in Colorado ahead of the June 30th Primary Election.

Host John Oliver laughed at all three candidates — Barb Kirkmeyer, Scott Bottoms, and Victor Marx:

John Oliver \ played a clip of Kyle Clark asking Scott Bottoms whether a MAGA podcaster who had called for officials to be executed and used antisemitic rhetoric would have a role in his administration.

Scott Bottoms: “Assuming it’s not around Jewish people, probably.”

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— Blue Georgia (@bluegeorgia.bsky.social) June 7, 2026 at 9:50 PM

Oliver focused most of his attention — how could he not — on the GOP frontrunner, including one of 9News host Kyle Clark’s most unbelievable questions of the night:

Kyle Clark asked Colorado GOP candidate for governor Victor Marx whether voters should believe he’s lived “one of the most extraordinary lives in human history,” or whether he’s “a liar and a fraud.”

John Oliver: “That might be the first event in history won by the moderator.”

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— Blue Georgia (@bluegeorgia.bsky.social) June 7, 2026 at 10:17 PM

Oliver also went back to last month’s amazeballs interview between Clark and Marx:

Colorado GOP candidate Victor Marx was asked whether he’s killed people as an adult.

Marx: “Does it matter?”

John Oliver: “Our elected officials should at least have a guesstimate of how many people they’ve killed.”

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— Blue Georgia (@bluegeorgia.bsky.social) June 7, 2026 at 10:03 PM

Over on Comedy Central, “The Daily Show” discovered Victor Mark to its great amusement:

Marx also popped up on the “Bulwark Takes” podcast with Tim Miller in a segment that included a nice shout out to Colorado Pols (jump ahead to the 11:00 mark):

MILLER: My buddies over at ColoradoPols.com have been putting out a “Big Line” on all the races. And they’ve been doing this for decades now. So I pulled up the ColoradoPols.com “Big Line,” and they do have Victor Marx as the favorite to win the GOP nomination. They write, ‘The Cajun Karate Master seems to be rolling toward the nomination.’ Barbara Kirkmeyer is second-best. ‘Both Ways Barb has been stuck in neutral for the better part of a year.’ And then, finally, Mr. Scott Bottoms: ‘Scott Bottoms has less money in the bank than most state legislative campaigns.’ So, there we go. Victor Marx, exorcising the Republican Party in Colorado of any chance to win the governorship.”

As we noted in our “Debate Diary,” not one of these jokers should be anywhere near the levers of power in Colorado. Fortunately, in a state that hasn’t elected a Republican Governor since 1992, there is little chance that Bottoms, Marx, or Kirkmeyer will become the next leader of Colorado.

As for Republicans: It’s going to get worse before it gets better. And it’s probably not going to get better.