Bottoms joins crowded GOP governor debate in Parker tonight

Scott Bottoms will take the stage at North Star Academy in Parker tonight while Victor Marx stays off the debate roster, turning a Douglas County forum into an early test of which Republicans see this fast-growing suburb as a must-win audience.

The race has taken on added weight because Gov. Jared Polis is term-limited, leaving Colorado to choose a new governor in 2026. Bottoms, a Colorado Springs state representative, and Marx, a Colorado Springs-based Christian ministry leader, Marine veteran and founder of All Things Possible Ministries, both locked up spots on the Republican primary ballot at the Colorado GOP assembly in Pueblo on April 11 after a late-night party meeting. Teller County Sheriff Jason Mikesell fell short, finishing with 11.8% and 225 votes before ending his bid.

Marx’s decision to skip Parker for his own Mission 151 live event shows a different path through the same electorate. He launched his campaign in October 2025 at a Colorado Springs country-western venue in an event that mixed politics with revival-style messaging, and his campaign has leaned toward direct outreach instead of a crowded debate stage.

Bottoms is choosing the opposite approach. His appearance in Parker puts him in front of Douglas County voters at a time when unaffiliated ballots may prove decisive. Federal judge Philip A. Brimmer denied the Colorado Republican Party’s emergency request to block unaffiliated voters from receiving GOP primary ballots, clearing the way for a June 30 primary that could reward candidates who can speak beyond the party base.

That split screen also carries political baggage. Bottoms was asked to leave the Colorado House floor in 2024 after deadnaming a transgender woman, and later told worshipers at Church at Briargate that he believed the FBI was involved in the July 2024 assassination attempt on Donald Trump. In a Republican field that also includes state Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer, former congressional candidate Joshua Griffin, conservative podcaster Joe Oltmann and former U.S. Rep. Greg Lopez as an unaffiliated candidate, Parker is one of the first places to see which campaigns want Douglas County in the room and which are willing to chase voters elsewhere.

The broader governor’s race is already expensive as well. Democrats Michael Bennet and Phil Weiser are also running, and their campaigns and allied committees entered 2026 with almost $9 million on hand.