Christian ministry leader Victor Marx launched his bid for the Republican nomination for governor Wednesday before a packed house at a country-western music venue in Colorado Springs.

The 60-year-old Marine veteran and founder of Colorado Springs-based All Things Possible Ministry invoked slain conservative organizer Charlie Kirk and unnamed supporters inside the Trump White House in the final minutes of a nearly two-hour event that was part political rally and part tent revival.

A survivor of horrific child abuse, Marx founded the nonprofit, which specializes in what it calls high-risk trauma intervention across the globe, in 2003.

“I’ve spent my life fighting battles most politicians wouldn’t dare face,” he said in a campaign video played at his launch event. “Protecting the vulnerable, standing with law enforcement and proving that courage can change outcomes,”

Added Marx: “Colorado doesn’t need another politician. It needs a man of conviction, a leader with the backbone to fight for families, restore justice and give this state back to the people.”

Marx is the 19th Republican running to take over from term-limited Democratic Gov. Jared Polis after next year’s election, setting a new record for the number of gubernatorial candidates from a single political party in Colorado.

Among the other Republican candidates are former U.S. Rep. Greg Lopez, state Sens. Barb Kirkmeyer and Mark Baisley, state Rep. Scott Bottoms, County Sheriff Jason Mikesell, former congressional hopeful Joshua Griffin and wealthy trial attorney Will McBride.

The leading Democrats running for the office are three-term U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and Attorney General Phil Weiser, who faces term limits in 2026.

Election forecasters rank Colorado’s gubernatorial race as a safe hold for Democrats, noting that the state hasn’t elected a Republican to statewide office since 2016 and has only elected one Republican governor since 1970.

As an estimated 1,000 supporters cheered inside Phil Long Music Hall, a smiling Marx declared that the wait was over for the candidacy he’d been teasing for weeks, including by dropping explicit hints that he planned to seek the office at a Sept. 14 memorial service for Kirk at a suburban Denver church.

“You know, I’m not here to make campaign promises,” Marx said at the campaign rally. “We hear that plenty; politicians don’t lack in that area. I’m not even here to talk much about the problem, because raise your hand if you know what the problem is.”

After the crowd whooped and hollered for a moment, Marx nodded, agreeing that the reason he was running was obvious.

“So instead of making campaign promises or talking about the problem, we all know that there’s only one solution under God’s authority,” Marx said. “Real leadership, period.”

Marx suggested that he didn’t have to spell out his complaints about the state he wants to govern after the cavalcade of pastors, politicians, veterans and sports legends who preceded him on stage had already described Colorado as a state in decline.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, the state’s senior Republican elected official, introduced and endorsed Marx as a “dangerous gentleman,” borrowing the title of his 2024 memoir and “battle plan for men to lead the fight to rebuild our culture, families and churches,” according to a publisher’s summary.

“What a time for a title like that,” Boebert said. “We should have dangerous gentlemen, where the evildoers of this world are afraid of the dangerous gentlemen, who are protectors.”

Kirk, who wrote the forward to Marx’s book, was featured in Marx’s campaign video extolling his friend as one of the world’s rare “strong men.”

“Victor Marx is just amazing,” Kirk says in the clip. “Anti-child sex trafficking, all across the world, one of the most powerful ministries, and someone who loves the Lord. I’ll tell you what, in a world where it’s hard to find strong men, Victor Marx is one of them.”

Colorado Democratic Party Chair Shad Murib told Colorado Politics that Marx’s announcement doesn’t change the likelihood that the next governor will be a Democrat.

“Victor Marx’s entry into the gubernatorial race underscores the growing divide between the extreme agenda of Colorado Republicans and Colorado’s values,” Murib said in a text message.

“While he wages culture wars online and Republicans attempt to exclude unaffiliated voters in their primaries, Democrats welcome everyone and focus on what truly matters: cutting costs, saving you money, making communities safer and building a free, welcoming Colorado for all that protects your rights.”

At his launch, Marx told the crowd that his wife, Eileen, had recently sparked the notion of his campaign for governor.

“I stand up here a bit in shock and awe, because six weeks ago, that’s about when all this started, ruminating in us, and it was my wife, my bride, saying, ‘Honey, we either fight for Colorado or end up being like others who move out.'”

Noting that a handful of his five children and five grandchildren live in California, Marx added, “And they won’t even move here,” drawing laughter from supporters.

Marx said his faith underlies his every move.

“So when Lauren and other friends talk about faith in action,” he said, “faith is such an integral part of what we do. We couldn’t do what we’ve done without that, and that is the basis and the context for when I know that God has called us to do this, the decisions we make.”

Still, as Marx approached his announcement, he said he was frequently asked why he might seek the office. Joking that it wasn’t for the money — “I think it pays $90,000 a year or something, I’m like, good lord!” he said — Marx said he replied, “There is no benefit to me running and becoming governor, except for the people of Colorado.”

After pausing for a moment as the crowd cheered, Marx continued: “And the governor’s role is the tip of the spear, but you people are the ones who are going to hold the spear and thrust it every time we have to do the work.”

After posting online about a possible run, Marx said “over a million people” had watched and responded, from all around the country.

“I had a call from the Pentagon today,” he said, flashing a quick grin. “A many, many layered-star general,” Marx said, adding that they’d long been friends and they’d followed each other’s career paths

“And you know what, I said, ‘Hey, can you pray for me before I go?'” Marx recalled. “He said, ‘I’d love to.’ He prayed for me. I’ve had people in and out of the White House tell me the White House knows, and they’re stoked.”