Two of the Republicans running for governor of Colorado said Tuesday night in a debate that they won’t support the third candidate if he wins next month’s primary election.

State Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer and state Rep. Scott Bottoms said that Colorado Springs-based ministry leader Victor Marx, the race’s fundraising leader, won’t have their backing if the first-time candidate secures the GOP nomination, with both lawmakers calling their rival untrustworthy.

“I don’t think he’s fit to be governor, and I think he would be a disaster for our state, quite frankly,” Kirkmeyer said in response to a question during a 90-minute debate on the Colorado Christian University campus in Lakewood.

The three Republicans are vying for the chance to run for the office held by term-limited Democratic Gov. Jared Polis. U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet and Attorney General Phil Weiser are facing off in the Democratic gubernatorial primary.

“I will not support Victor Marx,” said Bottoms, a Colorado Springs pastor. “He’s a con man. He’s lied to me personally. He’s lied to other people.”

Marx, who didn’t participate in the debate, called his primary opponents’ position a “stunning admission” that “puts their own egos and ambitions ahead of the party and the state,” in a statement to Colorado Politics.

Although Marx had originally agreed to participate in the debate, which was sponsored by the Centennial Institute and The Gazette, he pulled out weeks ago after complaining that one of the moderators had demonstrated bias by demanding Marx answer a series of detailed questions about his background.

Kirkmeyer, whose campaign has been hammering Marx for skipping numerous candidate forums and debates, said that her rival’s decision to withdraw from Tuesday’s debate raised concerns.

“I will not support Victor Marks if he receives the nomination, because, first of all, he went back on his word,” she said. “If you can’t show up to a debate, I mean, debates can be a little stressful, but if you say you’re going to show up to a debate and then you don’t show up, you’re going back on your word. Plus, I don’t think — all the stories that he’s told, I think he has embellished, and I don’t believe him.”

Marx, who runs the nonprofit All Things Possible ministry, says the organization is responsible for “hunting predators as well as rescuing, restoring and empowering women and children who have been held captive by traffickers and other abusers.” In addition, describing his traumatic childhood, Marx has said that he was forced to behead a dead cat at age 3 and forced to hold a gun that shot and killed a man when he was 7 years old.

Declaring that he was concerned that Marx was the focus of “too many investigations about everything, including fraud, corruption,” Bottoms said that multiple law enforcement personnel had warned him about Marx.

“When he declared, I got phone calls and or emails immediately from CIA, the State Department, Border Patrol, ICE, Border Patrol in Texas, the FBI, another CIA agent, immediately telling me, stay away from this guy,” Bottoms said.

Marx “was still my friend at that point,” said Bottoms, who went on to accuse Marx of later lying about him on a radio show. “I was still kind of naive toward him, but since then, I cannot support somebody that broken and corrupt for governor,” Bottoms added.

Marx said in a statement sent via text message that voters “deserve to understand what it really means” if his two Republican opponents won’t support him if he emerges from the primary.

“They’re effectively saying they’d rather see a radical liberal Democrat in the governor’s office than stand with a fellow Republican chosen by the voters,” Marx said. “That doesn’t put Colorado families first, and it certainly doesn’t put our conservative principles first. … It puts their own egos and ambitions ahead of the party and the state.”

Marx added that he’s got his eye on the general election.

“I don’t need their endorsement to win,” he said. “I earned my place on this ballot from the grassroots, not the political insiders, and I’m focused on beating the Democrats in November and fixing Colorado, not on petty grudges or insider games.”

Eric Grossman, the acting chairman of the Colorado Republican Party, said Wednesday that it will be up to voters to resolve disputes in the GOP gubernatorial primary field.

“The electorate will decide this issue,” Grossman said in a text message.

Bennet and Weiser, the Democratic candidates for governor, have both said that they’ll support their party’s nominee.

Ballots go out to most Colorado voters starting on June 8 and are due back by 7 p.m. on June 30. Registered Democrats and Republicans will receive ballots for their party’s primary, while unaffiliated voters will receive both ballots but can return only one.