Denver7 reports that Colorado Republicans finally have a nominee for governor. The Associated Press projected Marine Corps veteran Victor Marx as the winner of the GOP primary more than a week after election night, defeating Barbara Kirkmeyer by at least 2,142 votes.
That is a win. It is not a coronation. It is not a mandate delivered by thunderclap. It is a squeaker that took days to settle, which is a helpful reminder that Colorado Republicans are not exactly marching into November as a unified Roman legion with matching sandals.
Marx now faces Democrat Phil Weiser in the general election. That means the primary is over, the slogans get retired, and the hard part begins: convincing normal Coloradans that the opposition party can be a serious alternative to the Democratic machine that has been running this state like a nonprofit fever dream with subpoena immunity.
The Bullet Point Brief
- Victor Marx won the Republican nomination. Denver7 reports the race was too close to call on election night and was not settled until more than a week later. A win is a win, but 2,142 votes is not “the people have spoken with thunderous clarity.” The people mumbled through a wall and the AP finally called it.
- Barbara Kirkmeyer lost narrowly. That matters because Republicans now need to do something they occasionally treat like exotic surgery: unify, focus, and stop turning every internal disagreement into a lawn-chair cage match.
- Marx will face Phil Weiser in November. Weiser is already framing Marx as out of step with Colorado. Fine. That is the opening Democratic script. Marx’s job is to make this race about Weiser’s party and the state they have helped build.
- Marx’s statement hit the right themes. He mentioned high costs, unaffordable housing and health care, unsafe neighborhoods and schools, and a Colorado that has changed for the worse. Good. Now say it plainly, prove it relentlessly, and do not let consultants turn it into beige oatmeal.
- Colorado is tough ground for Republicans. Denver7 notes Colorado has not elected a Republican governor in more than two decades. So no victory-lap stupidity. No purity-test tantrums. No pretending a primary win equals permission to coast into November wearing a cape.
My Bottom Line
Congratulations, Victor Marx. Now stop posing and start making the case.
Colorado does not need another savior cosplay act. It needs someone willing to put the Democratic machine’s record on a meat hook and explain, in plain English, why normal people cannot afford the paradise these smug bastards keep congratulating themselves for building.
The Democratic ruling class owns the wreckage. They own the affordability bonfire. They own the regulatory maze. They own the tax-and-fee extraction racket. They own the crime-and-homelessness management seminar that passes for urban policy. They own the energy contradictions, the housing squeeze, the school failures, and the endless government habit of breaking your leg, handing you a pamphlet, and calling it compassion.
But Republicans should not confuse Democratic failure with Republican credibility. That credibility has to be earned. Marx now has to talk to unaffiliated voters, suburban parents, rural families, small-business owners, cops, energy workers, seniors, young families, and everyone else trying to survive Colorado’s increasingly expensive experiment in progressive self-congratulation.
This race should be a referendum on the people who have been running Colorado. But Marx and the GOP have to make it one. That means discipline. That means facts. That means no circular firing squad with yard signs. The general election starts now, and Colorado voters are watching to see whether Republicans offer a serious alternative or just another round of political theater with different bumper stickers.
Source: Denver 7
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