George Markert is the retired Marine colonel tapped by Republican gubernatorial candidate Victor Marx to serve as his running mate.
Markert is relatively new to Colorado — he moved to the state three years ago after 30 years in the Marines — and is definitely new to politics. The 54-year-old married father of two was originally running for the U.S. Senate this year, but he failed to make the GOP primary ballot at the Republican state assembly in April.
Now Markert is part of another longshot bid as he and Marx try to become the first Republicans to lead Colorado in two decades.
The Colorado Sun caught up with Markert recently to learn more about him.
The following has been edited for clarity and length.
The Colorado Sun: How did you get connected with Victor Marx? Did you seek out this position or did he come to you?
George Markert: He and I actually had crossed paths at various events back in the spring. We’re both Marine Corps veterans. Marines just have this way of connecting with each other, and so we hit it off. When it came time for him to select a running mate, he and his team did a very exhaustive search. I know of at least a dozen people that were interviewed for the position. I had been known to a lot of people in the state after running for office myself. There were people who approached me and asked if I was asked to serve again, would I be willing to do it? And I said, “yeah, let’s have a conversation.” I went ahead and linked up with his team. Over the course of a week, we had several conversations. The day before the announcement, they called and asked me if I would be the running mate. From my standpoint, I saw that as a moral obligation to serve the people of Colorado. So I said, “absolutely, I’m willing to take on the challenge and the responsibility.”
Read the full interview on The Colorado Sun's website.
