Two pastors from Colorado Springs qualified Saturday for the Republican gubernatorial primary ballot at the Colorado GOP’s state assembly in Pueblo in a party meeting that dragged late into the night.

State Rep. Scott Bottoms, who is known as one of the legislature’s most conservative members, won top line on the June ballot, while missionary leader Victor Marx, a first-time candidate who boasts that he doesn’t have any political experience, finished in second-place with enough delegate votes to win a spot in the primary.

State Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer, R-Brighton, is also running for governor but didn’t participate in the party assembly. She submitted petition signatures in a bid to qualify for the primary, but state election officials have yet to announce whether she has. Marx also turned in petitions.

In November, the Republican who emerges from the June 30 primary will face the winner of a Democratic primary pitting U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet against Attorney General Phil Weiser. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, is term-limited.

“This is our year. This is the year we’re going to do this!” Bottoms said as he took the stage, flanked by dozens of cheering, sign-waving supporters. He vowed to “reclaim parenthood and childhood for all Coloradans,” make the state more safe and secure, build small nuclear reactors and work with immigration authorities.

Bottoms finished with 45% of the delegate vote, ahead of Marx’s 39%, above the 30% required to make the ballot. Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell trailed with just under 12%, with more than a dozen other gubernatorial hopefuls who spoke at the assembly all coming in under 1%.

El Paso County delegate Robert Abeyta said he backs Bottoms because the state lawmaker “is the one that’s been on the front lines and understands what’s going on here.”

Abeyta said when Democratic leadership prevented Bottoms from speaking, it was because the Republican was “speaking the truth.”

Marx’s boisterous supporters framed the speech delivered by the self-described “high-risk missionary” by chanting “Take it back,” echoing a phrase the candidate said at the end of his brief remarks.

“Colorado does not need another politician at this stage of the game,” Marx told the crowd. “We need a leader, someone who has experience doing what other people say can’t be done.”

Marx said he didn’t “stand before you as a savior,” but as someone who knows how to develop teams.

“Teamwork should make the difference in Colorado as we take it back,” he said. “You all know the state we’re fighting for, and we’re not going to lose what generations built.”

“I’m a born again Christian, and he’s a pastor, so he answers to God, just like our founding fathers. That’s why they birthed this country, because they knew man was corrupt in his heart, but with God there, then you know that He’s omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent.”

Joanna Dewey, a delegate from Montrose County and a Marx supporter, said she’s looking forward to a governor who can “run Colorado with common sense.”

“I support Victor because I believe he’ll put us back on the right track with God first in this country and just put our morals back in order as they should be,” Dewey said after casting a vote for Marx

Results weren’t announced until late Saturday following numerous delays, including long lines that stretched for hours around the basketball arena on the Colorado State University campus as party officials checked delegates in. An attempt by a delegate to order that the state party investigate the delays failed.

GOP delegates also sent state Sen. Mark Baisley, R-Woodland Park, to the U.S. Senate primary by himself, giving the lawmaker 46% of the vote at the same time none of his six primary rivals reached 30%. He’ll face the winner of a Democratic primary between U.S. Sen. John Hickenlooper, the first-term incumbent, and his challenger, state Sen. Julie Gonzales, D-Denver.

James Wiley, who left the Libertarian Party last year after running as one of the minor party’s congressional nominees, was the sole Republican in a field of four to make it to the primary in the race for secretary of state.

Fremont County Commissioner Kevin Grantham, a former state Senate president, was the only candidate for state treasurer and was designated by acclamation.

In the attorney general race, 5th Judicial District Attorney Michael Allen will face a primary against David Wilson.

Democrats held their state assembly in Pueblo two weeks earlier.

Primary ballots go out to voters in early June and are due back to county clerks on June 30..