Victor Marx, the Republican nominee for governor who says he can exorcize demons and who claimed he has fearlessly rescued 45,000 women and children during 150 “high-risk” missions around the world, appears to be intimidated by the notion of debating his Democratic opponent.

Colorado has a long history of major-party candidates engaging in general election debates that defined the candidates on the issues voters care about.  

One of the threads that runs through every Republican statewide winner for governor and senator during the past 50 years is they debated their Democratic opponents across the state.

U.S. Sen. Bill Armstrong hung out-of-control inflation around the Democratic incumbent in 1978.

U.S. Sen. Hank Brown dramatized the contrast with his Democratic opponent on taxes and spending in 1990.

U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard defined the race as the veterinarian versus the lawyer-lobbyist in 1996.

Gov. Bill Owens drew sharp contrasts on tax cuts, highways and education in 1998.

U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner bludgeoned the Democratic incumbent for running a one-issue campaign on abortion in 2014.

Armstrong, Brown, Allard, Owens and Gardner were serious candidates who ran serious campaigns.

None of these hard-fought victories would have been possible without debates they clearly won against formidable Democratic opponents.

Had they disrespected the high honor of being nominated by Colorado Republicans by refusing to get into the debate arena, they probably would not only have lost, they would have embarrassed themselves and all Colorado Republicans.

Marx avoided debating his opponents during the Republican primary except for his disastrous appearance at the 9News debate. Marx could not or would not answer the question of how many people he has killed other than the person he claims to have murdered at the behest of an abusive stepfather when he was seven years old.

Marx recently told Club 20, which represents businesses and local governments in 22 western Colorado counties, he did not have time to debate on Sept. 19 because he was having a rally at a church in Centennial.  

Maybe no one in his $800,000 stable of out-of-state political consultants knew of Club 20’s debate tradition. Or perhaps they did and proactively scheduled the church rally to preempt Club 20 so Marx could duck the debate. Arrogance and incompetence are a lethal combination.

Club 20 has one of the most respected traditions of debates for major statewide, congressional and legislative offices going back decades. Some of the most consequential and dramatic moments of these campaigns have occurred at Club 20.

Gov. Jared Polis blew off Club 20 debates and now Marx is showing that same contempt for Western Colorado.

Marx laughably “challenged” the Democratic nominee for governor, Attorney General Phil Weiser, to one debate with no moderator. What a joke.

Marx insists he is not a “politician,” but nothing screams “Politician!” more than a candidate who ducks debates while cloaking himself in unsubstantiated bravado. 

In fairness to Marx, he might be preoccupied with defending his latest scheme to violate state campaign finance laws which has resulted in investigations by the Secretary of State and other entities.

Marx accepted more than $78,000 in illegal contributions which exceeded the limit for governor candidates. Now Marx claims he can accept unlimited contributions when supporters purchase merchandise from the campaign.

Marx says these violations are a “nothing burger.” Campaign finance laws apparently do not apply to Victor Marx.

Maybe Marx is doing Republican candidates a favor by not debating Weiser. His only other debate appearance was such an embarrassing disaster it might be just as well for him to hunker down in his compound except for tightly scripted events with his fervent followers.

Dick Wadhams is a former Colorado Republican state chairman who worked for U.S. Sen. Bill Armstrong for nine years before managing campaigns for U.S. Sens. Hank Brown and Wayne Allard, and Gov. Bill Owens. He was campaign manager for U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota in 2004 when Thune unseated Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle.