The Republican gubernatorial primary is down to three candidates: Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer (R-Weld County), Rep. Scott Bottoms (R-CO Springs), and ministry leader Victor Marx. Kirkmeyer has already carved out her position as the more moderate candidate, leaving Bottoms and Marx to compete for grassroots, MAGA voters.
Marx has been a lightning rod since he entered the race following the assasination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, peeling supporters from Bottoms, a pentecostal pastor known for his outlandish statements and culture war posturing. With the brief introduction of Douglas County podcaster Joe Oltmann — who withdrew from the gubernatorial race to run for Colorado GOP chair — into the race, the Republican anti-Marxist sentiment has only intensified.
Marx has made outlandish claims of rescuing thousands of sex-trafficked children, shooting a man as a child, countless posts of him toting an armory’s worth of guns, and perhaps most importantly, eye-popping fundraising totals, all of which are shared repeatedly by his online army of ministry supporters.
Former Monument trustee and El Paso County Moms for Liberty founder Darcy Schoening took Marx to task during her April 14 appearance on Ryan Schuiling Live. “His persona is self-created,” she said. “He has no qualifications to be governor, but he gives [voters] that dopamine hit, he gives them that satisfaction of, ‘Oh, I’m out here fighting pedos’ and it’s all an acting mechanism and people that don’t know what they’re doing in politics, don’t understand the state of Colorado, and don’t understand that type of manipulation, just eat it up.”
Marx’s All Things Possible Ministries claims it works to help victims of abuse, military personnel, orphans, and widows in “high-threat environments.” Former gubernatorial candidate Heidi Ganahl, initially an early supporter of Marx, also raised concerns about his ministry’s claims during her April 20 appearance on the Dan Caplis show.
“They supposedly rescue women and children,” said Ganahl. “Okay, great. Have some of those people speak out for you. Have them tell their stories. 45,000 is a huge number. I think the Homeland Security has rescued what? Maybe six? I can’t remember the numbers, but it would be astounding. And God bless you, if this is the case, Victor, then — tell the story, show us. Show us, and just the financials in the nonprofit are odd.”
Schoening, who ironically enough supports Oltmann — the subject of an ongoing defamation lawsuit, who has no experience in elected office, who last month told conservatives in Grand Junction that during the pandemic he infiltrated a Douglas County hospital and injected a patient with ivermectin, and that he was once the victim of an anthrax attack — raised questions about Marx’s self-reported history.
“He is a pathological liar, but I believe that he is convinced of his own lies,” Schoening said of Marx. “He lives in a world that is not true. And when he does that, he’s mastered the art of lying and victimhood since the early 80s. This is what he’s done his entire life, so it’s hard to pick out what’s true and what’s not. I don’t think he even realizes that, to a certain extent, and then his followers just gobble it up.”
Ganahl addressed her past support of Marx. “I did my best and helped for a little while and then decided to step away in January after I saw some things that were pretty concerning to me,” she explained. “I’m not endorsing anyone else in the governor’s race. But I certainly think there are some issues that need to be addressed and Victor needs to take head on to respond to. And he needs to do it in an environment where he’s gonna get asked tough questions just like he’s going to by the Democrats. I mean, where do we start? There’s so many questions about Victor and his background and his ministry.”
Ganahl’s remarks came after an April 14 episode of Candace Owen’s YouTube podcast in which she raised concerns about Marx involving illegal weapons trafficking in Haiti. Owens is a conservative commentator who has worked for Turning Point USA, Prager U, and the Daily Wire. Since Kirk’s assassination, Owens has promoted a variety of conspiracies about the shooting, drawing condemnation from conservative pundits, including conspiracy media giant Alex Jones.
“I was told the story about Jimmy Barbecue, the Haitian warlord that Victor met with and got under control,” said Ganahl. “For me, it’s like, Victor, you better answer these darn questions. This is weird stuff. I mean, I got dragged through the ringer for talking about parents concerned about kids dressing up like cats in school. This is a whole other world.”
Marx was asked about the allegations that he trafficked guns to Haiti during an April 16 appearance on the Jeff and Bill Show. “Of course not — it’s illegal,” he said. “How would I even be where I am today — years of working with federal, state, local authorities? That’s something that [Owens] has dreamed up, I guess. But it’s real simple. When people— and I’m realizing this day and age — when people bring allegations against you, I’m not one that has to defend it. They have to prove allegations or they discredit it because everybody now uses those words where you can’t be sued for slander and libel, all that, so it’s silly and it’s sad.”
Ashe Epp, a conservative blogger and pundit who briefly worked on Oltmann’s podcast after spending time as an election integrity activist, discussed the Owens episode during an April 18 appearance on the Peter Boyles show. “I think that Candace Owens is a firebrand and relatively toxic on the right side of the aisle, right, among Republicans,” she said. “Very kind of divisive figure. I think that there is a real shot that the Republican primary voters are in a posture of just doing the opposite of what Candace Owens says because she has kind of carved out her place in the Tucker Carlson, Joe Kent kind of Republican opposition space. I think this could end up helping Victor Marx.”
During that Peter Boyles episode, Weld County Sheriff Steve Reams weighed in on Marx’s approach to media appearances, such as his many spots on KNUS Jeff and Bill morning show (host Jeff Hunt is helping Marx’s campaign). “I think that is what is driving the issue amongst talk radio right now, because you have a candidate in Victor Marx who refuses to talk about when he stands on policy,” he said. “He’ll come in and do these glad-hand interviews with certain radio hosts, you know, even when I had him on the Dan Caplis show. You get to policy questions and he just totally goes into avoid mode. I think it’s because he really doesn’t have a lot of depth when it comes to any policy answers.”
Marx, however, sees himself as the only viable candidate for an office Republicans haven’t held since 2007. “I said this from the beginning — my fellow candidates, they can’t win,” he said. “If they could win, I would support them. Literally, I would, but the problem is they can’t win that general. And that’s why we stepped up. Someone has to win the governor seat back. To take control of our state, to change out agency heads, to put board members on commissions and leadership of real life, stuff that people need.”
Marx isn’t the only candidate who can’t support the others. During the April 11 Republican Assembly in Pueblo, Bottoms told Jeff and Bill host Jeff Hunt, “I would support the Republican nominee, unless it’s Victor Marx, because I think he’s corrupt.”
Bottoms’ beliefs about corrupt politicians don’t end with Marx — he also insists his Democratic colleagues, along with Governor Jared Polis are operating multiple child sex rings at the Capitol.
Supposed evidence of Marx’s corruption, including false claims, shady land deals, allegations of abuse, and more, has been compiled on the website victormarx4co.com, a project of Smart Choice Colorado, whose registered agent is Schoening. Schoening’s campaign against Marx recently led to a defamation lawsuit, not from Marx, but from “America’s Mom,” former Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) campaign manager Sherronna Bishop, who also supports Marx. Bishop, now a resident of Texas, claims in an April 14 filing that Schoening defamed her in “a Facebook post on a page operated by [Schoening] titled ‘The Truth About Victor Marx.’”
Among the claims contested by Bishop is that she “is a federal informant;” she “set up Tina Peters;” she “stole hundreds of thousands of dollars from Tina Peters fundraising efforts;” and she “is a Zionist hairdresser.”
Among the more verifiable claims against Marx is the 2025 sale of Marx’s home, valued at $555,727 by the El Paso County Assessor, to his own ministry for $2.9 million.
While Marx has famously avoided public events and forums, he will be speaking at this year’s Last Stand Conference, an anti-abortion event organized by Seth Gruber’s White Rose Resistance at Brave Church in Englewood on June 5 and 6. The Colorado primary is June 30.
