State Rep. Paul Lundeen of Monument officially picked up a mighty big endorsement Thursday in his bid to succeed Kent Lambert in Senate District 9.

When he announced his candidacy last month, Lundeen said he expected Lambert’s support.

Lambert called his fellow Republican “a remarkable champion for the people of El Paso County and Colorado,” in a Facebook post Thursday night.

Lambert, the chairman of the legislature’s powerful Joint Budget Committee and vice chair or the Senate Appropriations Committee, is term-limited from running again. A retired Air Force colonel, Lambert previously served four years in the state House.

“Lundeen has proven himself effective on the dtate Board of Education and now as a difference-maker in the Colorado House,” Lambert said in his very early endorsement. :Lundeen is a guy who gets things done!”

“Grateful to have the Chairman’s endorsement,” Lundeed said in a text to Colorado Politics. “Momentum continues to build for our SD9 race. Coloradans believe that a trim and focused government will serve the people better than a bloated bureaucracy stuck on autopilot. More endorsements will be announced in the coming days.”

Lundeen, so far, is the only candidate in the race.

A businessman, he is the former chairman of the state Board of Education, he was elected to the state House in 2014 and won re-election last year with nearly 80 percent.