Victor Marx Wins GOP Nomination for Governor, But Still Can’t Land Support From His Party

DENVER - Just one week into the general election, leading Colorado Republicans are refusing to get behind Victor Marx's candidacy - and the party is collapsing into prolonged post-primary division and infighting.

This week, the Colorado Sun reported that Marx lied about having the endorsement of former Republican Colorado Governor Bill Owens. In an embarrassing setback for the Marx campaign, Owens had to publicly come out and say he had not yet backed Marx. That fracas came as prominent Republican elected officials and statewide candidates in Colorado are refusing to sign onto Marx's so-called "unity compact" and coordinate with his campaign - despite false claims from the Marx campaign that Republicans are unifying behind his candidacy.

Read more about the crisis engulfing Colorado Republicans:

Colorado Sun : Victor Marx says he's being endorsed by Colorado's last Republican governor. That's not true - yet.

• Victor Marx, the GOP nominee for governor in Colorado, claimed on conservative talk radio Wednesday that he has the backing of Bill Owens, the state's last Republican governor. 'I got a call yesterday that he's endorsing me,' Marx said on the Jeff and Bill Show on 710KNUS. Except that's not true - at least not yet.

• But Owens said he has not yet endorsed Marx and that if he does, it won't be for some time. "I want to see Marx's campaign for the next month or so - what issues he is running on and how he handles himself as a candidate - after which I will make a decision," Owens said.

• Buddy Jericho, Marx's campaign manager, said that Marx "was referring to information he received from a trusted intermediary who has a close personal and professional relationship with Gov. Owens." Jericho said that information was consistent with the conversation Marx had with Owens in which Owens said he expected to be able to support the GOP nominee for governor.

• The discrepancy comes as Marx tries to unite Republicans after winning the three-way GOP primary for governor in Colorado with only 40% of the vote. The race was so close that it wasn't called until more than a week after Election Day.
  

• Some in the GOP are refusing to support Marx because of his extraordinary, sensational and, in many cases, uncorroborated personal backstory - including a claim that he was forced to kill a man as a child and that he performs exorcisms.

• 9News reported this week that Marx's campaign circulated a "unity compact" asking other Republican general election candidates in Colorado this year whether they're willing to publicly voice support for Marx and campaign with him.

• Colorado voters have not elected a Republican to a statewide office since 2016.

Colorado Politics : Republican candidates pass on signing Colorado gubernatorial nominee Victor Marx's 'unity compact'

• Two of the four other statewide Republican candidates, however, told Colorado Politics that they aren't signing on to the six-page agreement - dubbed the Republican General Election Unity Compact by the Marx campaign - while a spokesman for another said his campaign is "reviewing" the proposal. The fourth didn't respond to multiple requests for comment.

• During the GOP primary campaign, both Kirkmeyer and Bottoms said they weren't going to endorse Marx if he won the primary, with Bottoms describing Marx as a liar and a "con man" and Kirkmeyer saying his nomination "could be the extinction of the Republican Party."

• It's a sharply different response than the one that greeted Weiser after he defeated U.S. Sen Michael Bennet in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, when the two former rivals appeared together on stage and embraced two days after the election, alongside a dozen other winning and losing candidates at a unity rally sponsored by the state Democratic Party in Denver.

• State Sen. Mark Baisley, the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat John Hickenlooper, told Colorado Politics he is passing on signing Marx's compact.

• Republican secretary of state nominee James Wiley, who made an unsuccessful run for Congress on the Libertarian ticket two years ago, told Colorado Politics on Monday that he'd decided against signing the compact but is "open to more conversation" with Marx about how their campaigns can collaborate.

• Fourth Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen, the Republican nominee for attorney general, didn't receive the compact until Tuesday morning, a campaign spokesman said, adding that the Allen campaign is "reviewing" the document.

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