Colorado Republicans stand on the brink of total irrelevance and embarrassment if they nominate one of the two nonsensical, buffoonish candidates running for governor, Victor Marx and Scott Bottoms. 

Republicans are already in a very defensive, tenuous position as Democrats have had absolute control of every facet of Colorado state government for the past eight years. Term-limited Gov. Jared Polis will complete 20 consecutive years of Democratic governors when he leaves office in January. 

The odds of electing a Republican governor in November are already tough due to the deeply unpopular President Donald Trump, who lost Colorado by 4 points to Hillary Clinton in 2016, by 14 points to Joe Biden in 2020, and by 11 points to Kamala Harris in 2024. 

But there are signs that Colorado voters are growing tired of the destructive results of total Democratic control. More people are leaving Colorado than coming here, as the state declines under Democratic mismanagement of state government. 

Since 2018, the vast majority of Colorado voters saw Republican candidates through the lens of their opposition to Trump.  But they now appear willing to consider voting for serious Republican candidates who offer real agendas to support law enforcement, build roads, and defend the Taxpayers Bill of Rights. 

The Republican primary for governor will determine whether Colorado Republicans are worthy of voters’ support or will be driven back into the arms of Democrats.   

State Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer has a distinguished conservative record of effectively fighting against Democratic excesses on the powerful Joint Budget Committee. As a Weld County commissioner for 20 years, she lowered taxes, built roads, and supported agriculture and energy jobs.  Kirkmeyer has been endorsed by former Gov. Bill Owens. 

In stark contrast to Kirkmeyer, her two opponents, Marx and Bottoms, have demonstrated they have neither the temperament nor the substance necessary to win an election, much less serve as governor. 

Victor Marx is running a perplexing campaign of refusing to participate in forums and debates while only appearing at tightly scripted events limited to his most fervent acolytes. 

Marx makes outlandish claims about “rescuing” 45,000 women and children in war-torn countries. He says that as a child he was forced to kill a person by his abusive stepfather but claims law enforcement was not interested when he reported the alleged murder many years later.   

When confronted in the one debate he deigned worthy of his presence, he refused to say how many people he has killed during his international exploits other than acknowledging that “as a child” he killed one person. He said “it doesn’t matter” how many people he has killed. 

Marx claims he can exorcize demons from people, even over the phone.   

Meanwhile, Scott Bottoms has a lackluster record as a state legislator, having passed only one bill dealing with license plates.   

He has been pre-occupied with exposing pedophile sex rings he claims infest the state legislature and the governor’s office. Bottoms says he will offer proof of this despicable activity once he is elected governor.  

Bottoms cheerfully accepted the endorsement of stolen-election conspiracist Joe Oltmann, who says Jewish elected officials such as Polis, Sen. Michael Bennet, Secretary of State Jena Griswold, Attorney General Phil Weiser and Mesa County District Attorney Dan Rubenstein are part of the “Synagogue of Satan” and should be publicly executed. 

When asked if he would put Oltmann in his cabinet, Bottoms responded he would but he would keep Oltmann away from Jewish people. 

How can any Republican voter take Marx or Bottoms seriously? The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel described them as a Republican “clown car” — which is an insult to clowns. 

Their presence in the primary shows just how far Colorado Republicans have fallen since Gov. Bill Owens, the only Republican governor to be elected in the past 54 years, was elected in 1998. 

Owens had a very competitive primary against respected state Senate President Tom Norton. Though Owens won the primary and general elections, Norton would have been a strong general election candidate as well.  

If Colorado Republicans nominate either Marx or Bottoms, they will not only go down by historic margins, they will drag down every Republican candidate in every competitive statewide, state legislative and congressional race. 

Democrats are already trying to steal three of four Republican congressional seats by repealing Colorado’s competitive congressional redistricting commission in 2028. Republican voters could do the Democrats’ dirty work for them by nominating Marx or Bottoms and taking down those three Republican congressmen in 2026. 

Democrats are only a few votes short in the legislature from veto proof super majorities. Marx or Bottoms would drive Republican legislative numbers into historically low numbers and empower the Democratic Socialists who run the Colorado Democratic Party. 

Even a Republican candidate as accomplished and experienced as Kirkmeyer will be an underdog to win the governorship. But it matters greatly who will define Republican candidates across the state as the Republican nominee for governor. 

Dick Wadhams is a former Colorado Republican state chairman who managed campaigns for U.S. Sens. Hank Brown and Wayne Allard, and Gov. Bill Owens.  He was campaign manager for U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota in 2004 when Thune unseated Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle.