I’ve followed and covered Colorado politics closely for 22 years. It’s been a long time since I encountered a major statewide candidate I’d never heard of before announcing. 

I’d also never encountered any candidate for office who couldn’t answer the question, “How many people have you killed?” 

That is, until Victor Marx, a Republican candidate for governor who isn’t passing the smell test. 

On Wednesday night, 9News anchor Kyle Clark released a most peculiar interview with Marx. Not two minutes in, Clark asked how many women and children have been rescued by the missionary organization he leads. He pointed to Marx’s own campaign website’s since-removed assertion that they’d rescued 45,000. 

Marx instantly distanced himself from his own website, blaming an independent contractor and framing it as an innocent mistake. 

Clark pivoted to the central question: “How many women and children have you rescued?” Marx repeatedly refused to give a number for “security reasons.” 

This may be the first nonprofit CEO ever to reject the chance to tout success numbers — except when it suits him. 

Marx cited rescuing 43 children from Operation Northern Lights in Florida. But Clark noted that, among 25 partner agencies identified by U.S. Marshals, Marx’s ministry wasn’t listed. “Our team rescued 43 children” amounted to financially supporting those who did the rescuing. Funded and rescued aren’t the same. 

Multiple times, Marx either denies saying something (“that doesn’t sound accurate”) or deflects to others (“check with Buddy”). He insists he’d never claim to perform “more than 130 missions” even though he’d posted it on X in August 2024. Clark read the verbatim quote. 

When pressed to name one of the 30 nations from which his organization “saved women and children,” he couldn’t. “I don’t memorize every place that we’ve gone. That’s why I got a passport,” Marx quipped. 

“I have no need to prove to anyone what we’ve done over the last many years because we know what we’ve done,” said the candidate pitching voters. “People believing it or not? It has no bearing on our work.” 

Then came a question you rarely hear asked. Marx has long claimed his stepfather forced him to shoot and kill a man at age 7, so Clark asked how many people he’d killed. Marx called the question “odd,” although he’d discussed the potential need to kill people multiple times between 2017 and 2025.  

Maybe some people died because he’d defended himself in other countries, he conceded, but he’s not sure. “I don’t think that’s important,” he said. 

This same pattern appears in Marx’s campaign operation itself: extraordinary claims followed by evasions, corrections and unanswered questions.  

On May 4, the Marx campaign released a finance report showing $1.66 million raised in four months — significantly more than any primary rival. 

But 89 cents of every dollar raised was already spent, burning through $370,000 a month and leaving just weeks of runway into the June 30 primary. 

Nearly three-quarters of $1.5 million spent went toward two fundraising firms ($564,637) and consultants and professional services ($577,000). 

The contribution side contained so many errors that the campaign requested to “un-file” and replace the filing altogether. The secretary of state permitted it — despite calling the request “not a common practice.” 

The refiled version corrected hundreds of address errors while materially altering contribution totals by adding nearly $3,000 in previously unreported contributions. 

But more than $35,000 in excess contributions from 56 different donors apparently still haven’t been returned — despite the campaign’s assurances they’d comply with state law — including one donor who totaled $5,000 across five donations, more than three times Colorado’s $1,450 donation limit. 

Three contributions totaling $2,491.02 are still listed under “Isaiah Foundation,” using the home address of the president of the Castle Rock-based Isaiah 58:12 Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit barred from making political contributions. The campaign called it “likely a disclosure error,” but it’s still unclear who actually made the donation. 

Three weeks later, the questions I raised earlier this month remain unanswered — even though the campaign found time to file an additional report. 

That May 18 filing showed a deteriorating situation: $463,361 spent against $213,181 raised in two weeks; only $283,318 on hand. One prohibited “accidental” corporate contribution was refunded — the only over-limit refund to date, while at least two new ones appear. 

“Everything’s trustworthy,” Communications Director Roger Hudson told me on May 6. 

Is it? Marx took a mulligan on a barnstorming campaign finance report — and it’s still riddled with unresolved questions. He won’t answer direct questions like, “How many people have you killed?” or “How many kids did your organization actually save?” 

I suspect most voters would like their next governor to answer them, but Marx has dodged every debate so far where rivals Barb Kirkmeyer and Scott Bottoms might challenge him. 

A candidate who raises money off rescues he won’t verify, claims credit for operations his organization didn’t conduct, and files campaign finance reports that raise red flags isn’t the “Dangerous Gentleman” he claims to be. Except to Colorado Republicans. 

Democrats Phil Weiser and Michael Bennet must be salivating at the prospect. 

When Dan Maes became the ill-fated Republican nominee in 2010, he’d inflated his résumé riding Tea Party passions to an undeserved nomination. In the general election, Maes scored just 11%. What Colorado Republicans face now is another level. 

Victor Marx isn’t the new Dan Maes. Maes was the prototype for Victor Marx. 

Jimmy Sengenberger is an investigative journalist, public speaker, and longtime local talk-radio host. Reach Jimmy online at Jimmysengenberger.com or on X (formerly Twitter) @SengCenter.