Colorado GOP Nominee Victor Marx Builds All-Marine Ticket, Calls Socialism a Front for Communism

Victor Marx, a Marine veteran and founder of All Things Possible Ministries, won Colorado's Republican gubernatorial primary in June. He's now building his campaign around a warning that democratic socialism is gaining real ground in Colorado politics, according to an interview with Fox News Digital.

Marx isn't being subtle about it. "There's never been a successful socialism program, and I'll say socialism, it's just a transitionary word for communism. Let's just say it for what it is," he told Fox News Digital.

His running mate is retired Marine Col. George Markert, who spent more than 30 years in the Corps with senior leadership roles at U.S. Central Command and the 2nd and 4th Marine Logistics Groups before moving into private-sector infrastructure work. Marx is pitching the pairing as an all-Marine ticket that brings, in his words, "hard foreheads, steely spines, and high integrity" to a state government he says needs discipline and accountability.

The Trend Marx Is Pointing To Is Real

Marx's warning isn't invented out of thin air. In Colorado's June primary, democratic socialist Melat Kiros defeated longtime incumbent Rep. Diana DeGette, a Democrat who has held her Denver-area House seat for decades. Fox News Digital describes Colorado's primary results as mixed overall, but says Kiros's win extended a "broader run" of victories by progressive and democratic socialist candidates nationally this cycle.

An incumbent losing to a democratic socialist challenger in a safe blue seat is the kind of signal that shows up in intra-party fights, not general elections, which is exactly why it tends to get less national attention than a marquee general-election race.

Where the Rhetoric Gets Loose

Calling democratic socialism "just a transitionary word for communism" is a political argument, not a factual claim that can be checked against a ledger. The Democratic Socialists of America, which endorsed Kiros, campaigns on policies within the existing American electoral system — though the organization also supports the eventual abolition of police, a position that puts public safety at the center of its disagreement with Marx.

Marx also described the DSA as "organized" and "well-funded, they are focused on reshaping Colorado from the top down," according to Fox News Digital, without providing specific figures. DSA is a real organization with real fundraising and organizing infrastructure, but "well-funded" relative to what is an open question Fox News Digital's report doesn't answer with numbers.

Marx frames the debate as being about crime as much as ideology, arguing state leaders are "more focused on policing speech than protecting families" while residents worry about crime and gang activity. That argument lands against a real backdrop: according to Fox News Digital's reporting, Colorado recorded about 476 violent crimes and 2,593 property crimes per 100,000 residents in 2024 — roughly 28% and 41% higher, respectively, than national rates calculated by the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Statistics.

What's Actually At Stake

Marx's opponent is Colorado Democratic Attorney General Phil Weiser, who has repeatedly challenged the Trump administration in court, including over efforts to restrict birthright citizenship and other immigration-related policies. Marx argues that increased government spending under current state leadership "hasn't made our state safer," saying Colorado has gotten "softer on crime" and that taxpayers are "paying more while the government delivers less."

Marx is running on public safety, social conservatism and cost of living, according to Fox News Digital — the kinds of kitchen-table issues that tend to move general-election voters more than ideological branding fights. As Marx put it: "We're one election away. It's either me, or it's a Democrat. And I lay the DSA at the Democrats' feet. It didn't come through the Republican Party or Independents. It came through the Democrats."

Whether "send in the Marines" rhetoric and communism comparisons help Marx with the voters he'll need beyond his own base, or whether it mainly rallies Republicans who've already decided, remains the open question. Kiros's primary win suggests the Democratic Party's energy, at least in some districts, is moving further left — but that's a primary-electorate signal, not proof of how a statewide general election will break.