Victor Marx wins GOP nod for Colorado governor in tight race

Driving the news: Marx held a roughly 2,500-vote lead against state Sen. Barbara Kirkmeyer when the Associated Press called the race in his favor Thursday.

• The early ballot tally favored Kirkmeyer, but her lead dwindled as the June 30 Election Day votes were counted.

Between the lines: The results took more than a week to emerge as voters corrected mistakes on their ballots to get them counted and officials counted overseas votes.

• The deadline for curing ballots was Wednesday.

Zoom out: State Rep. Scott Bottoms, an ultraconservative lawmaker, finished a distant third.

The votes for Marx and Bottoms reveal that 60% of Republican Party voters wanted an extreme right-wing candidate rather than a get-it-done moderate in Kirkmeyer.

Context: Marx, a nonprofit ministry leader and first-time candidate, publicly claimed his stepfather ordered him to kill a man at age 7 and later declined to answer how many people he's killed in his lifetime.

• Kirkmeyer ran as the establishment candidate with governing experience in former Gov. Bill Owens' administration and six years as a state lawmaker.

What's next: Marx will face Democrat General Phil Weiser in the November election after the attorney general's upset victory against U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet in the primary election.

• To stay competitive, the GOP nominee must rev up fundraising and make inroads with unaffiliated voters, who account for half the electorate and typically decide which candidate wins in Colorado.