Victor Marx isn’t running for Colorado governor. He’s running for state pastor.

Victor Marx has made some spectacular headlines.

The Republican nominee for Colorado governor can’t say how many people he’s killed. He claims to have participated in extraordinary exploits overseas as part of his ministry but refuses to substantiate what appear to be tall tales. He performs exorcisms — over the phone, even. He faces allegations of campaign finance violations. A Daily Beast report this week highlighted Marx’s own accounts of committing physical violence against his wife and young son.

It’s easy for voters to get the impression Marx is little more than “a liar and a fraud,” as put by Kyle Cark of 9News during a candidate debate.

Marx’s wild claims deserve every bit of the scrutiny they’ve received. But that attention has obscured an essential quality of his campaign, the one that could be the most disastrous were he to become the chief executive of Colorado: his extreme faith. A Christian pastor, Marx makes no attempt to hide his vision for political leadership, which to him is indistinguishable from religious leadership. Based on his behavior and rhetoric, he appears to be running for lead Christian pastor of Colorado, not governor.

A striking moment during that Clark-moderated debate came at the end, when the three GOP primary candidates were invited to give closing remarks. Marx closed his eyes and prayed. Many politicians pray, nothing wrong with that. But Marx’s decision, in that setting, to fill that crucial time with a public Christian prayer, instead of trying to persuade voters that his plan for the state’s highest political office was superior, signaled to viewers that God was his platform.

It also foreshadowed more explicit expressions of Christianity’s improper place in his campaign. During a Fox31 interview in August, anchor Matt Mauro asked Marx what he’d do to make Colorado more affordable.

“I’m going to consecrate the state back to God,” Marx said. “We need to lead to help our state with integrity and a moral code, and that’s how we’re going to get it back on track.”

An investigation by 9News of Marx’s activities in the last 15 years “indicates that his work casting off demons is at the center of his $7.5 million per year ministry, All Things Possible, and can fairly be described as his life’s work,” Clark wrote. He added, “The ministry leader says casting off evil spirits is his greatest achievement.”

Earlier this month, the campaign called on supporters to participate in a 21-day fast, based on Biblical principles.

“This is not just an election, but this is a spiritual battle against the forces of wickedness,” Eileen Marx, Victor’s wife, said in a video announcement about the fast. In another video about the fast, Eileen said, “We believe God’s going to heal Colorado.”

It’s hardly unusual for politicians to proclaim their faith, but it is unusual for them to stake their entire campaign on their faith.

The implications for Colorado are profound. Marx’s Christianity is not only fundamental to his life and campaign, but it bears odd and extreme qualities that could make a wreck of state policy. Take abortion. Coloradans again and again have supported abortion rights. In 2024, they voted to enshrine abortion rights in the state constitution. But Marx, based on his faith, would try to reverse the amendment, as he alluded to in the Fox31 interview. He has a long history of extreme rhetoric on abortion.

Last month, Marx earned the endorsement of Andrew Wommack, a national religious figure. Since Marx made a big deal about the endorsement, saying he was “incredibly honored” to receive it and lauding Wommack for “encouraging Christians not simply to believe their faith privately, but to live it boldly,” it’s reasonable to assume Marx is sympathetic to Wommack’s advocacy for the Seven Mountains Mandate, which says Christians should rule over all aspects of society.

Colorado faces pressing problems. The state budget is buckling under multiple increasing pressures, especially those related to healthcare costs. Housing remains unaffordable. Environmental crises abound.

Scripture might offer fortitude. It doesn’t offer solutions. Those will come from research, facts and earthly debates. But Marx is all piety and no policy.