Before the seat held by former Rep. Steve Lebsock had even cooled off, a state Democratic Party committee used the expulsion to push its supporters to back Rep. Faith Winter in an Emily’s List competition.

But whether that’s likely to turn into campaign contributions from the Washington, D.C. group is another matter.

The Democratic Senate Campaign Fund (DCSF) sent out an email Monday afternoon pushing its supporters to vote for Winter in the Emily’s List 2018 Rising Star contest. The award is named after former Arizona congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot at a constituent meeting in 2011. Giffords has since become one of the nation’s most prominent supporters of increased gun control laws.

“Last week, at the State House, Rep. Faith Winter and a courageous group of women and legislators expelled a serial harasser from the Colorado State House. Faith and her colleagues showed us all what true courage looks like,” the DCSF email said. “This week, Faith needs your support! Click the image below to vote Faith Winter for EMILY’s LIST 2018 Rising Star!”

The Rising Star award recognizes “an extraordinary woman serving in state or local office.” Speaker of the House Crisanta Duran won the award in 2016, which was announced toward the end of March that year. Duran did not receive Emily’s List contributions in 2016 after she won the Rising Star Award; their only contribution was in 2012 to a leadership fund she controls.

There are six women vying for the award from Emily’s List, which backs pro-choice Democratic women for elected office. Winter’s name was added to the nominee list on March 1, the day before Lebsock was expelled from the House on a 52-9 vote.

Winter is vying for the Senate District 24 seat currently held by Republican Sen. Beth Martinez-Humenik of Westminster. That seat is likely to be the hottest contest in the state Senate this year and could determine control of the state Senate next year. That said, Duran ran from a safe Democratic House seat where she won each election by no fewer than 66 percent of the vote, more than three times the votes for her Republican challengers.

Winter has also had commanding wins in her House district, winning with at least 50 percent of the vote in her two elections in 2016 and 2014, with a good nine to ten points above her Republican competition.

Contrast that, however, to what’s at stake in 2018. In 2014, Martinez-Humenik won a close race against former Democratic Rep. Judy Solano in 2014, with 47.5 percent of the vote to Solano’s 45.5 percent, a difference of less than 1,000 votes out of more than 55,000 cast.

Emily’s List has contributed close to $46,000 to Democratic women running for state offices since 2010, although Winter has never received a contribution from the group, according to TRACER, the Secretary of State’s campaign finance tracking system.

That doesn’t include more than $88,000 the group has earmarked for contributions to gubernatorial candidate and former state Treasurer Cary Kennedy. That comes from two Emily’s List committees and a third, a joint fundraising committee with Priorities USA, according to the Federal Election Commission.

The largest contribution the group has ever made was to help former state Sen. Angela Giron of Pueblo in her unsuccessful bid to keep her Senate seat in a 2013 recall. Emily’s List gave Giron’s campaign $17,500.

The DCSF push for a vote for Winter does not include a request for campaign contributions. The DCSF does not hold current registration within TRACER as a campaign committee. Its stated purpose is to retake the state Senate, where Democrats need gain only one seat in the fall. Contributions, according to its website, are “aggregated with contributions to the House Majority Project and the Colorado Democratic Party.” The House Majority Project, like the DCSF, has not held a current committee registration in TRACER since 2011. The state Democratic Party is listed as a political party committee.

Since Jan. 1 of 2017, the state party has taken in $439,000, including the maximum $3,050 limit, from close to three dozen current lawmakers or funds they control.