July 13, 2026 02:23 PM UTC

Who is Endorsing Victor Marx for Governor?

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• by: Colorado Pols

Colorado Republican “leaders” are freaking out about the entire GOP ticket in November now that Cajun Karate Master Victor Marx is officially the nominee for Governor.

As former State Republican Party Chair Dick Wadhams writes in the Denver Gazette:

Marx’s plummet is a harbinger of what will happen in the general election.

It is mind-boggling that a plurality of Republican primary voters cannot see the phony bluster of Victor Marx will not sell in a state dominated by a majority of unaffiliated voters who have deep antipathy for President Donald Trump…

…The danger of Victor Marx goes beyond a Republican losing another governor’s race. Marx’s absurd rantings will undermine every Republican candidate running in a competitive statewide, state legislative or congressional race.  [Pols emphasis]

Wadhams is wrong about a lot of things, but he hit the mark on this one. Marx is the most problematic name to show up on a Republican ballot since Dan Maes in 2010. Can Marx clear the unbelievably low bar left by Maes 16 years ago?

Maes won the Republican nomination for Governor in 2010 after the campaign of former Congressman Scott McInnis spun out over allegations of plagiarism. Wadhams, then the Chair of the Colorado GOP, led efforts to denounce Maes, which culminated in the recruitment of Tom Tancredo to run for Governor as the nominee of the American Constitution Party. In the 2010 General Election, Democrat John Hickenlooper was elected with 51% of the vote, followed by Tancredo (36%) and Maes (11%). That 11% for Maes is important; if he had fallen below 10%, the Colorado Republican Party would have lost its “major party status” for 2012.

It’s hard to see how Republicans could follow a similar playbook in 2026. The GOP has a barely-functional leadership structure at the party level, and there’s no obvious last-minute candidate who could be a plausible third party replacement (if such a person existed, they would have been the Republican nominee in the first place). Colorado has also become a blue state in the years since 2010, so there’s no path for a conservative candidate to defeat Democrat Phil Weiser in November.

The bigger issue with Marx is the degree to which he hurts the rest of the Republican ticket in November. His ridiculousness could severely depress GOP voter turnout, which would almost be the best-case scenario for Colorado Republicans. The bigger fear is that he turns swing voters completely against the GOP in 2026, helping Democrats gain a supermajority in the state legislature.

In an effort to gauge Marx’s radioactivity in the 2026 election, we’re keeping an eye on endorsements of Marx. We’ll update this post throughout the election as more information becomes available.

Victor Marx Endorsements

YES

♦ Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Windsor)
Boebert has backed Marx from day one.

♦ Rep. Gabe Evans (R-Ft. Lupton)
Evans pledged before the Primary Election that “I’m going to support the Republican gubernatorial nominee, because we’ve got to have a change here in Colorado.”

NO

♦ State Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer
Failed Republican candidate for Governor said before Primary Election that she would not support Marx.

♦ State Rep. Scott Bottoms
Failed Republican candidate for Governor said before Primary Election that he would not support Marx.

♦ Dick Wadhams
Former Republican Party Chair has been outspoken in his disapproval of Marx.

UNCLEAR

♦ Rep. Jeff Hurd (R-Grand Junction)
The “Bread Sandwich” hasn’t publicly commented on Marx.

♦ Rep. Jeff Crank (R-Colorado Springs)
Crank only says what President Trump tells him to say; so far he hasn’t commented on Marx.

♦ Heidi Ganahl, 2022 Republican gubernatorial nominee
Ganahl was a big supporter of Marx last fall, though now she claims she never actually “endorsed” his candidacy. She’s no doubt hoping that Marx will take her crown as the worst major statewide candidate in Colorado history.