A collection of videos and posts has exposed the violent stories told by Victor Marx, the MAGA backed ministry leader and political outsider running to become Colorado’s next governor. His own accounts include slamming his wife into a door, throwing his toddler across a room and intimidating a mental health provider.

Marx, 61, is a Marine veteran and martial arts enthusiast who has spent years presenting himself as a Christian warrior battling evil. He has described freeing people from “demonic oppression” and conducting what he calls spiritual exorcisms.

During a 2021 appearance on the Protector Nation podcast, Marx recalled becoming “infuriated” when his wife said she no longer needed martial arts training because she was married to a Marine black belt. Marx laughed while describing what happened next.

“She goes, ‘I can handle myself’. I said, ‘You can?’ And I remember grabbing her, slamming her into our front door,” Marx said. He continued, “I mean, it was a decent push. It’d be a bouncing push, right? She hit that, bent over and started crying, facing the opposite way.”

Marx offered another account on his own podcast in 2020, describing his reaction after his toddler son pushed his young daughter hard enough to make her scream. “I reacted so fast and so disproportionately that I snatched him up and threw him across the room,” he said.

Marx said his son began crying after being thrown. He added, “And I’ll never forget, I went, what was that? I mean, I couldn’t believe it.”

Other stories recounted by Marx include punching an inmate at a juvenile facility until the man was bleeding. He has also described blocking a door to intimidate a mental health provider and telling the provider there would never be enough time to call for help.

Marx has additionally recounted pulling a Marine Corps knife on a psychiatrist. At a Turning Point USA Pastors Summit in San Diego, he joked that while he was not good at some things, conflict was an area where he had a particular knack.

While telling the crowd about hitting a man who had cheated on his wife and abused his daughter, Marx put a religious gloss on that violent impulse. “I don’t know, I feel like God gave me a gift for violence, against a manifestation of evil,” he said.

Marx has also made unsubstantiated claims that his stepfather forced him to kill a man when he was seven years old. During a May interview with local outlet 9News, he was asked whether he believed he had killed people as an adult and replied, “Does it matter?”

The Daily Beast reached out to Marx about the newly uncovered videos and posts. Marx, described as a political unknown, prevailed in Colorado’s GOP primary race this year with help from his social media following, his podcast and an enthusiastic grassroots campaign.

His endorsements include MAGA Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, former Denver Broncos Super Bowl champion Derek Wolfe and several law enforcement and faith leaders. Marx has emphasized his outsider status and his troubled past while campaigning.

His Republican primary rivals were considerably less impressed by the extraordinary life story. Colorado State Senator Barb Kirkmeyer and State Rep. Scott Bottoms called Marx a liar and a fraud and said he was not fit to serve as governor.

“I can’t trust you,” Kirkmeyer told Marx during a primary debate this year. “You’re unfit. You’re unqualified.”

Marx responded by claiming that thousands of people could testify to his accounts. “I can’t help it if I’ve had an extraordinary life,” he told the debate audience.

Marx now faces Democratic Party nominee Phil Weiser in November for an open governor’s seat because current Democratic governor Jared Polis cannot seek a second term. Colorado has not elected a Republican governor since 2002, while affordability, housing shortages and state government spending remain major campaign concerns.

Marx has said he respects President Donald Trump but would not call himself a hardcore “MAGA person.” He explained his approach by saying, “I don’t agree with him on everything. But I believe the governor’s job is to build relationships with that administration, not pick fights for political theater.”

Marx runs All Things Possible Ministries, a Colorado Springs nonprofit that says it conducts dangerous missions in foreign nations to deliver aid and restore trauma victims. The organization is another major part of the public identity Marx has built around faith, danger and confrontation.

His campaign has faced additional scrutiny after a former GOP operative filed a complaint with the Colorado secretary of state’s office last month. The complaint alleged Marx created a new campaign store to evade legal contribution limits, while his campaign manager said the campaign was reviewing the matter and the secretary of state did not comment.