President Donald Trump rolled out a fresh round of endorsements for Colorado Republicans this week, backing four congressional candidates by name — but leaving Republican gubernatorial nominee Victor Marx off the list entirely. Marx, who has built his campaign around being a political outsider, says that's exactly the point.
As KDVR reports, Trump used his social media accounts on X and Truth Social to endorse Jeff Hurd in Congressional District 3, Lauren Boebert in Congressional District 4, Jeff Crank in Congressional District 5, and Gabe Evans in Congressional District 8, telling supporters, “These great patriots have my complete and total endorsement — they will never let you down!” Marx's name did not appear anywhere in that rollout, even as Trump worked through races across several states in the final stretch before the midterms, according to the station.
Marx responded by framing the absence as validation rather than a slight. He said it showed he was an outsider, not a career politician or part of the political establishment, and that he wasn't running to protect the status quo, per KDVR's reporting. “Colorado needs real change and its people deserve a governor accountable to them, not the political machine,” Marx said, adding that “Colorado's future belongs to Coloradans.”
A Governor's Race Already Short on GOP Firepower
Marx enters the final weeks of the race with a thinner bench of Republican support than most statewide nominees. According to Axios, U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert is the only Colorado elected official listed as an endorser on Marx's own campaign website. That's a notably short list for a major-party nominee heading into Election Day.
Meanwhile, Marx's Democratic opponent, current Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser, has been collecting Republican endorsements of his own. Weiser's campaign announced the backing of 16 current and former elected Republicans, the Denver Post reported, along with the Colorado Fraternal Order of Police. Former Congressman Ken Buck is among them, having thrown his support behind Weiser rather than his own party's nominee, as first detailed by CNN.
Republicans Crossing Party Lines
Buck's endorsement is not an isolated gesture. CNN describes him and former New Hampshire Senate candidate Don Bolduc as part of a growing list of Republicans making crossover endorsements of Democrats this cycle. For Weiser, that crossover support dovetails with a broader strategy: the article notes he's seriously considering appointing a Republican to his cabinet as he builds toward what Axios describes as a bipartisan governing coalition if elected.
Marx has leaned into his status as a political outsider and criticized the conservative establishment, according to a Colorado Public Radio voter guide, a posture that lines up neatly with how he's now explaining Trump's silence on his candidacy.
No Elected Office, a Narrow Primary Win
Marx has never held elected office, and the Denver Post notes he has no voting record, no budget and no administration to point to from past public service. He founded All Things Possible Ministries, a Colorado Springs-based religious and humanitarian nonprofit, according to Colorado Public Radio.
He won the Republican nomination by fewer than 3,000 votes over state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer, per KDVR, a margin Colorado Politics pegs at just under 40% of the primary vote and about 2,500 votes separating the two, with state Rep. Scott Bottoms finishing third at 20%. Both Kirkmeyer and Bottoms had said before the primary they would not support or endorse Marx if he won — a divide within his own party that predates Trump's omission by months.
Colorado's Steep Odds for Republicans
Whatever happens with endorsements, Marx is running uphill in a state that has not elected a Republican governor since Bill Owens won a second term in 2002, according to Colorado Politics. Republicans have not won statewide office since 2016.
The race isn't strictly a two-way contest, either. Unaffiliated candidate Greg Lopez is also on the ballot alongside Weiser and Marx, Colorado Politics reports.
Trump's Mixed Record With Colorado Candidates
Trump's Colorado endorsements this cycle have not been static. He previously threatened to withdraw his endorsement of Boebert after she campaigned with Rep. Thomas Massie and joined him in opposing Trump on releasing the Epstein files, and he called for a different Republican to eventually run against her. He also withdrew, then later reinstated, his endorsement of Jeff Hurd after Hurd initially declined to support Trump's tariff agenda — ultimately giving Hurd his complete and total endorsement anyway. The endorsement posts themselves carried the graphic “Swamp the Vote,” a slogan Trump has used since his first campaign to signal rooting out corruption.
In a Truth Social post tied to the endorsement push, Trump urged supporters: “GO VOTE at the Polls RIGHT NOW, and get everyone you know to VOTE FOR THE REPUBLICAN IN EVERY RACE, UP AND DOWN THE BALLOT!” Whether that call extends to Colorado's governor's race remains an open question — one Trump's own endorsement list, so far, has left unanswered.
