{"id":312,"date":"2026-06-08T11:10:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T11:10:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationacrossamerica.com\/?p=312"},"modified":"2026-06-08T11:10:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T11:10:18","slug":"even-in-purple-colorado-republicans-cant-find-a-normal-candidate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationacrossamerica.com\/?p=312","title":{"rendered":"Even in purple Colorado, Republicans can\u2019t find a normal candidate"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Victor Marx says the first time he participated in killing a man, he was merely 7 years old. He says he was forced by his stepfather, but also would like folks to believe he\u2019s killed many, many times since then \u2014 though he refuses to say how many people \u2014 but of course, only for the greater good. According to him, the military empowered him to order strikes that killed 70 ISIS fighters. He has also claimed he rescued over 45,000 women and children from slavery around the world, like something from a high-stakes action movie. He later pulled that number off his All Things Possible Ministries website when called out on it. He bragged that he\u2019s led over 130 missions in over 30 nations, but claimed ignorance when asked for details of these daring rescues. He performs exorcisms over the phone, assuring folks that one doesn\u2019t need to be in person to cast out demons.<\/p>\n

Read more Republican lawmakers face backlash after daring to challenge abortion bans<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

The people who would donate to a pastor who presents himself as a John Wick-style action hero are overrepresented with GOP primary voters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

When Kyle Clark of 9News asked Marx, who also claims to have a black belt in \u201cCajun karate,\u201d to defend these stories during the recent primary debate between Republican gubernatorial candidates, the tough guy turned to his dog to save him. After calling the vest-adorned dog on stage and joking that she would bite Clark, he bellowed, \u201cIs she lying, too?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps it should no longer be surprising to report that Marx has a commanding lead in the polls over his two opponents, state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer and state Rep. Scott Bottoms. The people who would donate to a pastor who presents himself as a John Wick-style action hero are overrepresented with GOP primary voters. Still, it is shocking to see such a clownish figure so far ahead in Colorado, a purple state that has long had a reputation for moderation. It\u2019s a sign of how deranged the Republican party has become under the leadership of Donald Trump that the GOP can\u2019t get it together to nominate a candidate moderate-seeming enough to have a shot at winning in what should be a swing state.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As longtime opinion columnist at the Colorado Sun Mike Littwin wrote late last month, \u201coffering lies, damned lies and more lies is the way to win MAGA hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bottoms must be annoyed, since Marx really took over the \u201cnutty right-wing pastor spouting obvious B.S.\u201d lane during this race. Bottoms is no piker in the art of saying wild, clearly false things in the name of Jesus and collecting donations.<\/p>\n

In a 2022 town hall, Bottoms raved that \u201cdemonic\u201d school officials are forcing elementary school children to undergo gender transition surgery. \u201cWe have these transvestites that dance around in the schools,\u201d he continued, insisting that he will put people in jail for all these things he alleges, which are not actually happening.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have anything wrong with transgender people,\u201d he added at the same event.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Read more Trump attacks NBC journalist, then abruptly ends the interview<\/a><\/p>\n

As Colorado Public Radio recently documented, Bottoms continues to insist that Democrats in the state house are running a pedophile sex trafficking ring, without a single shred of evidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe moment I\u2019m governor, we\u2019re going to shut down the pedophile rings that are in the House, in the Senate, and in the governor\u2019s office,\u201d Bottoms promised on the campaign trail. He also claims \u201cI\u2019ve been working with the FBI for three years now\u201d to uncover this sprawling conspiracy. Luckily for Bottoms, he\u2019s third in the polls right now, so it\u2019s unlikely he\u2019ll have to make good on this promise.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Kirkmeyer is laying claim to the \u201csane person\u201d lane in this three-way race, though it\u2019s only netting her 13% in the poll of Republican primary voters, well behind the 42% Marx is pulling. Worse for her, the gap widens to 59% for Marx to only 9% for her when voters are given a summary of candidate policy positions. Kirkmeyer\u2019s evidence for moderation is she\u2019s worked on bipartisan legislation and believes Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election. She also, as far as I know, avoids accusing Democrats of running child sex trafficking rings and does not claim to parachute into foreign brothels to rescue women at gunpoint.<\/p>\n

But we should eschew the temptation to treat Kirkmeyer like a reasonable person. She\u2019s been at the forefront of prior efforts in Weld County to secede from Colorado. She\u2019s pushed for local jurisdictions to refuse to enforce gun control laws and supports banning abortion without any exceptions. She may accept the results of the 2020 election, but she claims there is no evidence for human-caused climate change.<\/p>\n

Climate denialism seems mundane in an age when Republicans are always raving about demons and imaginary pedophiles. (While covering up the evidence of actual abuse of minors, of course.) But decades of climate denial from Republicans are why we are in this wretched state, where there is simply no limit on how outrageous MAGA lies will get. The scientific evidence of climate change is overwhelming. Denying that may not be as flashy as sex trafficking lies, but it\u2019s just as surely false \u2014 and it\u2019s a lie that justifies climate inaction that is already leading to deaths worldwide, including in Colorado.<\/p>\n

Colorado\u2019s primary is June 30, though mail ballots start going out to voters today. Sen. Michael Bennet and state Attorney General Phil Weiser are in a tight race in the Democratic gubernatorial primary, and yet their second debate last Thursday night was a dog-free snoozefest compared to the Republican weirdness. Mostly, the two candidates accused each other of being too wimpy to stand up to Trump, and sadly, both had a point. It was a depressing reminder that, even though Republicans fall further into the deep end, Democrats still struggle to connect with voters, because they come across as feckless and weak more often than not.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, whoever wins the Democratic primary will likely win in November, because, like Democrats across the country, they\u2019re currently winning the \u201clesser of two evils\u201d contest with the loons that increasingly populate the Republican side. Still, Trump\u2019s triumph in 2024 over then-Vice President Kamala Harris is a sobering reminder that \u201cless crazy\u201d isn\u2019t always the election winner it promises to be for Democrats in 2026. The scariest thing about watching Colorado\u2019s GOP go down the rabbit hole is the realization that this may not doom them forever, even in a state long known for relative moderation. The kooks have passion, or at least they can fake it. That can win elections, especially when voters are comfortable or bored. Democrats can\u2019t coast on Republican nuttiness forever.<\/p>\n

Read more Only in New York: Trump, Mamdani and Elmo talk NBA finals<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The lead in the GOP governor\u2019s primary claims he\u2019s an expert at \u201cCajun Karate\u201d \u2014 the other two aren\u2019t much better<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":311,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[548,549,4,133,268,550,551],"class_list":["post-312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting","tag-barbara-kirkmeyer","tag-colorado","tag-commentary","tag-elections","tag-politics","tag-scott-bottoms","tag-victor-marx"],"yoast_head":"\nEven in purple Colorado, Republicans can\u2019t find a normal candidate - Relocation Across America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationacrossamerica.com\/?p=312\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Even in purple Colorado, Republicans can\u2019t find a normal candidate - Relocation Across America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The lead in the GOP governor\u2019s primary claims he\u2019s an expert at \u201cCajun Karate\u201d \u2014 the other two aren\u2019t much better\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/relocationacrossamerica.com\/?p=312\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Relocation Across America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-08T11:10:18+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=312#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=312\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ba2572fa1a7a241291fdc36bdae80fcf\"},\"headline\":\"Even in purple Colorado, Republicans can\u2019t find a normal candidate\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-08T11:10:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=312\"},\"wordCount\":1159,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=312#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/d1e18d19cc0e685b5343a05fc9b69ae8.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Barbara Kirkmeyer\",\"Colorado\",\"Commentary\",\"Elections\",\"Politics\",\"Scott Bottoms\",\"Victor Marx\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=312#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=312\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=312\",\"name\":\"Even in purple Colorado, Republicans can\u2019t find a normal candidate - Relocation Across America\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=312#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=312#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/d1e18d19cc0e685b5343a05fc9b69ae8.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-08T11:10:18+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ba2572fa1a7a241291fdc36bdae80fcf\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=312#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=312\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/?p=312#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/d1e18d19cc0e685b5343a05fc9b69ae8.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/relocationacrossamerica.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/d1e18d19cc0e685b5343a05fc9b69ae8.jpg\",\"width\":1692,\"height\":1142,\"caption\":\"DENVER , CO - JUNE 2: From left to right State Rep. 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