Republican gubernatorial nominee Victor Marx announced his selection of George Markert, a retired Marine colonel, as his running mate on Friday, calling the military veteran a “proven leader.”
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Marx talked about his lieutenant governor selection during an appearance on radio host Jeff Hunt’s morning show on conservative talk station 710 KNUS. Friday was the deadline for him to pick a running mate for the Nov. 3 election against Democratic nominee Phil Weiser and other candidates.
Markert, who lives in Broomfield, served in the Marines for more than 30 years. He ran in this year’s Republican primary for U.S. Senate but ultimately did not make the ballot. During his Senate campaign, Markert described himself as a “constitutional conservative and proud supporter of President Trump’s America First agenda,” according to Colorado Politics.
On the radio show Friday, Markert said he took a vacation after his campaign ended and was preparing to settle into retirement when the opportunity to run with Marx popped up.
“I thought: If the nation, if the state, asks you to serve, you step up and do it,” he said. “That’s your obligation.”
Markert and Marx, who served in the Marines for nearly three years in the 1980s, are both newcomers who had not run political campaigns prior to this election cycle. They will face off in November against Weiser, the state’s two-term attorney general, and his recently announced running mate, Jefferson County Commissioner Lesley Dahlkemper.
“George is not a career politician, just like me,” Marx said Friday morning on the broadcast. “He’s a proven leader who has spent his life accomplishing missions.”
Marx won a close primary race, defeating state Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer by 2,466 votes, or just under half of a percentage point, in a three-way race that also included state Rep. Scott Bottoms.
The general election to succeed term-limited Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, will also feature several third-party candidates as well as former Republican-turned-independent Greg Lopez, who submitted enough signatures to make the gubernatorial ballot as an unaffiliated candidate. Lopez’s running mate is Taralyn Romero.
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