Republican gubernatorial candidate Victor Marx’s campaign violated state campaign finance laws during the primary election, when 111 people donated money to the campaign beyond what’s legally allowed for a total of $78,000.
This is according to a new complaint from the Colorado Secretary of State’s office.
This story was produced as part of the Colorado Capitol News Alliance. It first appeared at cpr.org.
“They failed to substantially comply with their legal obligations under Colorado campaign finance law given the extent of their noncompliance and their failure to achieve the underlying purpose of contribution limitations,” said the complaint filed Thursday with the Elections Division of the Secretary of State’s Office.
Colorado law restricts individual contributions to $1,450 in aggregate from any one person. Campaigns are also banned from accepting contributions made in cash exceeding $100.
The Marx campaign said it is aware of the complaint and is working directly with the Secretary of State’s Office to address the matter.
“Campaign finance compliance is something we take seriously, and we are cooperating fully to resolve any outstanding questions,” said Marx campaign manager Buddy Jericho in an email to CPR News.
“Because this is an active administrative matter, we don’t believe it’s appropriate to litigate the details through the media while that process is ongoing. If any corrections or additional filings are required, we’ll make them through the proper legal and regulatory channels,” he wrote. Jericho said the campaign won’t comment further until the administrative process runs its course.
The state’s investigation started on May 8, 2026, when Republican Darcy Schoening, a former GOP state party officer, filed 109 campaign finance complaints about Marx with the Division. Schoening filed additional complaints about the Marx campaign in the subsequent weeks and CBS Colorado reported on the allegations on June 16 during the height of the primary election.
Schoening is now serving in the Trump administration in the Department of Health and Human Services and said she was prohibited from commenting on the state’s actions due to the Hatch Act.
Marx won a three-way primary race, and defeated Republican lawmakers Barbara Kirkmeyer and Scott Bottoms to win his party’s nomination for governor. He faces Democratic Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser in November.
“The situation is unfortunate and could’ve been prevented,” said Kirkmeyer in a text message to CPR. “Victor Marx has a legal obligation to follow the law. He has a moral obligation to set an example for every candidate, especially those in the Republican Party on how to run a campaign consistent with the law. I’m calling on him to settle this issue and to do it immediately.”
In the complaint, the state noted that Marx’s campaign did try to fix some of the campaign finance issues.
“In their view, Respondents cured all violations by refunding the excess contributions, correcting the contributor’s aggregate contribution amount, or, where possible, attributing all or part of the excess contributions to a spouse of the reported contributor,” said the Secretary of State’s Office.
But Colorado election officials said the campaign did not provide confirmation that all the contributions had been corrected, or address the excess cash contributions received over the $100 limit.
The Marx campaign has 30 days to file a response, and an administrative hearing officer has 30 days to set a hearing date, although a settlement could be reached prior to a formal hearing.
This story was produced by the Capitol News Alliance, a collaboration between KUNC News, Colorado Public Radio, Rocky Mountain PBS, and The Colorado Sun, with support from news outlets throughout the state. Startup funding for the Alliance was provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.