Colorado governor candidates Marx, Weiser clash over domestic violence
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Victor Marx, left, and Phil Weiser, right, appear at the lone gubernatorial forum in the 2026 election. Photo: John Frank/Axios
In their first — and likely only — campaign forum, Colorado's top gubernatorial candidates mostly played nice, until the final minutes.
Why it matters: Democratic candidate Phil Weiser and Republican candidate Victor Marx used the Thursday event, hosted by the Colorado Chamber of Commerce in Denver, to outline their agendas for addressing affordability and boosting business growth.
State of play: The one flashpoint in the hour-long conversation focused on Marx's admission on a 2021 podcast that he once pushed his wife into their front door.
- Marx, a first-time candidate from Colorado Springs, said on the podcast he was trying to show his wife that she needed to keep up her self-defense training. She responded to the push with a spinning kick that hit her husband hard, his campaign said.
- In other past comments, Marx has said girls and women would face less abuse if they were content with where God has placed them.
What they're saying: Marx demanded that Weiser, the state's attorney general, apologize for accusing him of domestic violence in recent weeks. Instead, Weiser doubled down.
- "My response about domestic violence is to survivors out there: It's not your fault," Weiser said, drawing applause from the crowd.
The big picture: The moment distracted from a conversation about the state's declining business climate, during which Marx and Weiser outlined different stances.
- Weiser said he'd support a rewrite of the Labor Peace Act to make it easier for unions to organize, while Marx said he'd leave it in place.
- Marx said he'd promote the state's oil and natural gas industries and reduce regulations, as Weiser defended the current safeguards.
- On the state budget, Weiser focused on the need for more K-12 education spending while Marx pledged to conduct an audit to find bloated spending.
The vibe: More than the issues, the candidates' approach to answering questions drew the most attention.
- Marx, who has declined to participate in a formal debate, read from notes so often he drew criticism from multiple Republicans in the room who spoke to Axios afterwards.
- Weiser spoke directly to the audience without notes.
The intrigue: Marx embraced his lack of knowledge, saying, "We have to have an outsider come in that does government different."