The former Navy SEAL who served as secretary of the Interior in the Trump administration on Monday endorsed Tyler Allcorn in the Republican primary for Colorado’s newly created 8th Congressional District, saying the Army Special Forces veteran is the kind of fighter needed in Congress.

Ryan Zinke, a former Montana congressman and head of a political action committee that supports conservative veterans, lauded Allcorn’s military background in a statement obtained by Colorado Politics.

“President Trump trusted Tyler Allcorn to destroy ISIS in the Middle East, and I trust Tyler will never stop fighting for the people of Colorado’s 8th Congressional District,” Zinke said.

“Members of the Special Forces like Tyler run towards the fight and we need fighters now more than ever in Congress. Voters in the 8th Congressional District have the opportunity to send in a Green Beret and I urge them to vote for Tyler Allcorn in the June primary and in November against Yadira Caraveo.”

A spokeswoman for the House Democrats’ campaign arm slammed Allcorn for accepting what she termed the “dubious honor of being endorsed” by Zinke, who faced more than a dozen inquiries into alleged misconduct during his roughly two years in the cabinet.

Allcorn leaned into combat metaphors in a statement provided by his campaign.

“Secretary Zinke is a battle-tested patriot, and I’m honored to earn the support of one of America’s top warriors,” he said.

“The 8th Congressional District is full of patriots like former SEAL Team Six Leader Ryan Zinke who know we need a fighter in Congress, not more of the same. I was a warrior for the people when I served on the battlefields of the Middle East, and I will be a warrior for the people in Congress.”

Allcorn is one of four Republicans running in Colorado’s June primary in the battleground 8th CD, which covers portions of Adams, Larimer and Weld counties north of the Denver metro area.

Zinke, who is running in a June primary in Montana’s new congressional seat, resigned his cabinet position in December 2018, saying that “vicious and politically motivated attacks” had created a distraction. He represented Montana’s at-large district before President Donald Trump named him to head the Interior Department.

In February, the Interior Department’s inspector general issued a report that found Zinke misused his cabinet position to benefit a commercial development in his hometown and lied to a federal ethics official about his involvement. Zinke called the report “a political hit job” and said his work with a nonprofit foundation resulted in the creation of a park where his children can sled, the Associated Press reported.

Maddy Mundy, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, tore into both Republican candidates in a statement.

“If disgraced former Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke is Tyler Allcorn’s example of good governance, then Coloradans are in trouble,” she said. “From their extremist rhetoric to their dubious endorsements, the GOP primary candidates of Colorado’s 8th continue to scrape the bottom of the barrel.”

Zinke and the SEAL PAC he runs previously endorsed Erik Aadland, one of three Republicans seeking the nomination in the Jefferson County-based 7th Congressional District.

The other Republicans running in Colorado’s 8th CD are state Sen. Barb Kirkmeyer, R-Brighton, Weld County Commissioner Lori Saine and Thornton Mayor Jan Kulmann. State Rep. Yadira Caraveo, a Thornton pediatrician, is running unopposed for the Democratic nomination.

Primary ballots go in the mail to most Colorado votes on June 6. They’re due back to county clerks by 7 p.m. June 28.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include a comment from a spokeswoman for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.