Ministry founder Victor Marx wins Republican primary for Colorado governor

Ministry leader Victor Marx has won the Republican primary for governor of Colorado, NBC News projects, setting up a general election matchup with state Attorney General Phil Weiser , the Democratic nominee.

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Marx narrowly defeated Republican state Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer after a protracted count of the final votes following the June 30 primary. Marx took 39.9% of the GOP primary vote, while Kirkmeyer took 39.4%.

A third Republican candidate, state Rep. Scott Bottoms, finished a distant third.

Marx, a former Marine and the founder of an evangelical ministry, gained wider notice this year after a controversial interview.

Marx has long claimed that an abusive stepfather forced him to kill a man when he was only 7 years old.

The assertion resurfaced when Marx said in a May interview with NBC affiliate KUSA of Denver that he’d also possibly killed other people.

“I’ve been in other situations where, possibly, people or persons died as a result of me defending myself in other countries,” he said.

The reporter interviewing him asked: “Do you think that you’ve killed people as an adult?”

It’s unclear whether Marx’s claims were referring to his time in the military.

Marx’s campaign website says he endured a troubled childhood — including being the victim of sexual abuse — before he turned his life around in the Marines.

He says his ​All Things Possible Ministries has rescued women and children held in captivity, including one particularly daring mission rescuing kidnapped girls from Islamic State territory .

Marx enters the general election as the underdog against Weiser as they vie to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Jared Polis. Colorado voters haven’t elected a Republican governor in more than two decades.

Weiser, a two-term state attorney general and former University of Colorado Law School dean, beat Sen. Michael Bennet in the Democratic primary in a campaign that centered on an anti-Trump and antiestablishment message.