DENVER – Republican Alex “Skinny” Winkler of Northglenn has been appointed to fill the Colorado House District 34 seat that became vacant when Rep. Steve Lebsock of Thornton, a Democrat, was expelled earlier this month.

The Adams County vacancy committee met Friday night at the Northglenn Recreation Center to select a new House representative. Their choices: Winkler, who owns a sound production company, and Casey Cole, a Thornton real estate agent.

The vacancy became available to the Republican party on March 2 when Lebsock changed his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican approximately an hour before he was booted from the House.

The expulsion was related to 11 sexual harassment allegations made by five women, including fellow Democratic Rep. Faith Winter of Thornton. The allegations were deemed credible by a third-party investigator.

The day before the 2018 legislative season began, Lebsock issued a 28-page manifesto detailing the alleged sex lives of his accusers. He distributed it to the other 64 members of the House. That manifesto was deemed retaliation by House Majority Leader KC Becker. Retaliation is a violation of the General Assembly’s workplace harassment policy.

The vote to expel Lebsock was 52-9, with 16 Republicans voting for expulsion along with the House’s 36 remaining Democrats.

Cole and Winkler both attended last Saturday’s Adams County Assembly, where Winkler won the top spot for the primary ballot by one vote.

That narrow margin repeated itself Friday night, with Winkler winning 12 votes to Cole’s 11. Interest in the vacancy meeting was unusually high, according to vacancy committee chair Nicole Gullette, who said the House group has 28 voting delegates.

The meeting was not without controversy. One delegate pointed out that a pledge had been made at Saturday’s Adams County Assembly that whoever lost the contest would also drop out of the primary.

Cole told Colorado Politics he will withdraw his candidacy for the June primary, noting that it will raise the chances of his party’s success for the November election.

Both candidates touted their conservative credentials, although Winkler indicated he is willing to work across the aisle and drew attention to his relationship with Democratic Rep. Jonathan Singer of Longmont on issues such as criminal justice. But he also said he supports reducing the size of government, is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment and will be a conservative vote in the House.

Delegates were most interested in what the candidates could do on the issue of roads and bridges, and on obtaining a commuter rail to the northern suburbs.

But Gullette pointed out that the term of office is a mere 42 days.

“There’s not a lot they can accomplish in 42 days,” she said.

This turned into a discussion of the time and money it will take to win the race in November. Both candidates said they have money to spend and will be ready to go door to door to seek votes from unaffiliated and Democratic voters. The district’s demographics show unaffiliated voters are the largest group, at 15,660. Democrats come in second, with 13,716 active voters, and Republicans trail with 9,499, as of February 2018.

Winkler has yet to file his candidacy paperwork with the secretary of state but said he would by Monday.

He ran for the House in 2014, losing to Lebsock by just under 2,000 votes out of almost 22,000 cast, or about nine percentage points.