Colorado Republican gubernatorial nominee Victor Marx named George Markert, a retired Marine colonel, as his running mate for lieutenant governor Friday morning, saying the former U.S. Senate candidate will bring “exceptional character, proven leadership and a lifetime of serving others” to the ticket.

Marx is facing Democratic nominee Phil Weiser, the state’s attorney general, and independent candidate Greg Lopez, a former Republican congressman, in the race to succeed Democratic Gov. Jared Polis next year, who faces term limits.

The announcement comes nine weeks before county clerks can start sending out mail ballots for the Nov. 3 election.

Last week, Weiser announced that his choice for the No. 2 position was Jefferson County Commissioner Lesley Dahlkemper, a former president of the county’s school board.

Lopez, who ran for governor last year before leaving the Republican Party to successfully petition onto the ballot, earlier named Taralyn Romero, a former health care administrator and Jefferson County property rights activist, as his potential lieutenant governor.

“It’s an opportunity to serve,” Markert said on 710KNUS after Marx introduced him on air.

Markert, who settled his family in Broomfield after retiring from three decades in the Marine Corps, sought the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat held by incumbent John Hickenlooper but failed to make the primary ballot.

Marx, who also served in the Marines, made the announcement on the Jeff and Bill Show, putting to rest days of public speculation that included guesses that one of the conservative talk show’s hosts, Jeff Hunt, would be his pick. Hunt told Colorado Politics on Thursday that he’d given the Marx campaign a list of names to consider, but he wasn’t the candidate.

“We can’t have more of the same,” Marx said. “If people are happy with the state of what Colorado is in, with the economy, our safety, our education, the roads — listen, then you vote the Democratic ticket. It’s that simple. If people are ready for change, we’re the agents to do it.”

Added Marx: “We’re problem-solvers, and for this, for us, it’s just another deployment to come in and fix what’s broken. You have to have a governor and a lieutenant governor with a backbone that will face the corruption, the system we would call the establishment.”

Markert said that what sets his candidacy apart from Dahlkemper’s is his “integrity and moral courage.”

“Like Victor said, the aspirations are not for fame, fortune and political glory. It’s about serving,” said Markert, who sat alongside Marx during the radio broadcast.

Noting that Colorado has tumbled in numerous national quality-of-life rankings in recent years, Markert added: “We used to be top 10 across the board. Now we’re pretty much bottom 10, right? And that’s obviously a result of its poor leadership. Just because people occupy an office or got elected doesn’t mean they know anything about leadership. They know nothing about integrity, they don’t know anything about service.”

Colorado Democratic Party Chair Shad Murib said in a statement that Marx “could not have made a more toxic pick for lieutenant governor.”

“George Markert has tied himself so tightly to Trump, his disastrous war in Iran, and to far-right figures like Tom Tancredo, that it’s clear Republicans want to bring the failing, cost-raising MAGA agenda to the Governor’s Office,” Murib said.

Tancredo, a former five-term Republican congressman from Jefferson County who made three unsuccessful runs for governor — including one on a third-party ticket — endorsed Markert in the Senate primary, calling him “a genuine American hero and patriot.”

Friday was the deadline for Colorado’s major party gubernatorial nominees to designate running mates, falling seven days after state election officials certified results of the June 30 primary.

Marx narrowly prevailed in the three-way Republican primary, edging past state Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer, R-Brighton, by less than 1 percentage point. State Rep. Scott Bottoms, R-Colorado Springs, trailed.

The Marx campaign suggested last week that his pick wouldn’t be someone “from inside the existing system.”

“Victor believes it’s time to bring in experienced leaders from business, technology, public safety and the military to modernize state government and deliver measurable results for taxpayers,” campaign spokesperson Rachael Flick told Colorado Politics in an email, contrasting Marx’s choice with Dahlkemper, who has held elected office for more than a decade.