A Murderer is Running for Governor of Colorado

The dozens of candidates vying to become Colorado’s next governor include some…eccentric characters. There’s an election-denying podcaster, a reality TV contestant, a former football star, multiple political party flip-floppers, and even a felony-convicted fraudster.

Gregory A. Thomas just lowered the bar even further.

The Republican gubernatorial hopeful filed his candidacy from the Colorado Department of Corrections, where he is serving a 48-year sentence for murdering a 21-year-old woman. Thomas pleaded guilty to the heinous crime less than three years ago, and he’s apparently ready to use it as a launching pad for a career in politics — never mind the fact that his felony incarceration makes him legally ineligible to run for governor.

“This conviction changed the trajectory of my life, and I accepted the responsibility to use that experience as a catalyst for growth,” Thomas’s campaign website reads. “It has shaped my commitment to public service. …My candidacy for Governor is an extension of that commitment.”

Under state law, only electors are eligible to run for office. That means Thomas cannot legally run for governor because he cannot vote while serving a sentence for a felony conviction, according to the Colorado Secretary of State’s Office. (People incarcerated for misdemeanor convictions can run for office, however.)

“Qualifications for office are determined when someone attempts to access the ballot either via petition or the assembly process,” explains Jack Todd, spokesperson for the Secretary of State’s Office.

Though he has no legitimate path to the 2026 ballot, that hasn’t stopped Thomas from filing candidacy paperwork or promoting his campaign online, where he has somehow amassed over 10,000 TikTok followers. Most of his videos have only a few hundred views, although one clip of Thomas dancing under fake dollar bills has more than 17,000.

His social media and website are filled with images that appear to be AI-generated, depicting himself and potentially fictitious members of his campaign staff. One alleged staff member is identified as “Carlos Ramirez,” director of Hispanic outreach. The presumably artificial photo appears to potentially be based on the likeness of Carlos Ramirez-Rosa, CEO of the Chicago Park District. A staffer for Ramirez-Rosa says he is not affiliated with Thomas’s campaign.

Thomas pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in May 2023 for the fatal shooting of 21-year-old Lavanya Jain in Adams County in March 2021. Thomas hid Jain’s body in a trash can, which he stashed inside a storage unit for two months before her remains were discovered by employees, according to the 17th Judicial District Attorney’s Office. Once Jain’s body was found, Thomas fled to Washington, where he was later arrested.

Thomas, age 41, will be eligible to apply for parole in 2056, at 71 years old, according to the Department of Corrections. Only upon his release would he actually be eligible to seek office.

Former U.S. Representative Greg Lopez has left the Republican Party and is now running for governor as an unaffiliated candidate. He attributes the move to the ineffectiveness and division of both major political parties. However, it may also have something to do with the fact that Lopez has lost the gubernatorial GOP primary election twice before. This time around, he would have faced 21 other Republicans for the nomination.

Lopez isn’t the only party switcher. Marla Fatima Fernandez, who began her campaign as unaffiliated, is now filed as a Democrat. Fernandez unsuccessfully ran for the state House as a Republican in 2022 and 2024, during which she was criticized by Republican leadership and Democratic legislators for racism after she called Black and Latina Democratic candidates “chimps” in a tweet.

A noteworthy newly-filed candidate is Republican Victor Marx, a ministry leader with more than two million followers on social media, who has vowed to challenge “the godless ideology that has eroded Denver’s institutions” and has spread “cultural decay.” He is yet another far-right influencer seeking the office, joining podcaster Joe Oltmann, who officially filed on December 29.

Meanwhile, Republican State Senator Mark Baisley is leaving the crowded GOP primary to pursue the United States Senate instead. Baisley hopes to challenge Democratic U.S. Senator John Hickenlooper, joining three other Republican candidates already in the race.