Republican Victor Marx chooses George Markert as running mate in Colorado governor race

Republican Victor Marx has tapped George Markert, a retired Marine colonel, as his running mate in the race for Colorado governor, Marx announced Friday morning.

Markert ran for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate this year, but did not make the ballot. Before that, Markert was an advisor for a strategic artificial intelligence program at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs, according to his LinkedIn profile. He had a career in the Marine Corps for over 20 years and has lived in Broomfield for about three years.

“Throughout his career, he’s been entrusted with enormous responsibilities, led thousands of people, overseeing billion-dollar operations, and solving complex challenges around the world,” Marx said Friday on The Jeff and Bill Show, a morning program on the conservative talk radio station KNUS. “George is not a career politician, just like me.”

Marx won the Republican nomination in the June primary election, beating state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer and state Rep. Scott Bottoms. He will face Democratic nominee Attorney General Phil Weiser, who picked Jefferson County Commissioner Lesley Dahlkemper as his lieutenant governor choice. Greg Lopez, a former Republican member of Congress, is also on the ballot as an unaffiliated candidate.

“We understand the challenges that Colorado faces deep into the future,” Markert said. “It’s been on the wrong track for quite some time. So enter this team here. I’m proud to be a part of it.”

Shad Murib, chair of the Colorado Democratic Party, said in a statement, “Victor Marx could not have made a more toxic pick for Lieutenant Governor. George Markert has tied himself so tightly to (President Donald) Trump, his disastrous war in Iran, and to far-right figures like Tom Tancredo that it’s clear Republicans want to bring the failing, cost-raising MAGA agenda to the Governor’s Office.”

Tom Tancredo, a former member of Congress from Colorado, published a memoir in 2022 called, “I Was Trump Before Trump Was Cool.” He endorsed Markert in Markert’s U.S. Senate campaign.