Former U.S. Rep. Ed Perlmutter on Tuesday threw his support behind strategist Shad Murib, one of the three candidates running for state chair in the Colorado Democratic Party’s upcoming leadership elections.

Perlmutter, a Arvada Democrat who represented the suburban 7th Congressional District for eight terms, is the highest-ranking current or former elected official to weigh in on a field already teeming with endorsements from state lawmakers, local officials, activists and community leaders.

Also seeking the party’s top job are two-term state first vice chair Howard Chou, a market researcher and pollster, and Larimer County educator and party stalwart Tim Kubik.

Three-term state chair Morgan Carroll announced in December that she wasn’t seeking reelection.

“Shad understands how Democrats can make Colorado an even better place to live when we all work together. His track record in Colorado politics speaks for itself,” Perlmutter said in a statement.

Murib told Colorado Politics that Perlmutter’s track record in the 7th District – winning the closely divided seat by double-digit margins, even in Republican wave years – demonstrates “that even the swingiest of swing districts can become Democratic strongholds with the right ideas and hard work.”

Added Murib: “What Ed achieved in CD 7 is possible in every corner of Colorado but it will take hard work, an ability to bring folks together, and years of experience winning hard elections.”

Democrats cap the party’s biennial reorganization process on Saturday at the Sheraton Denver Downtown Hotel, where the party’s state central committee is set to elect a state chair and a slew of other statewide officers to two-year terms.

The party’s annual fundraising dinner is scheduled to take place that night at the same hotel. U.S. Rep. Bennie Thompson, the Mississippi Democrat who chaired the House committee that investigated the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, is the dinner’s keynote speaker.

The Colorado GOP wrapped up its leadership elections earlier this month, picking former state Rep. Dave Williams, R-Colorado Springs, as state chair.