State Sen. Larry Liston on Thursday endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in what appears to be the first formal endorsement in the 2024 Republican presidential primary by a sitting GOP legislator in Colorado.

The Colorado Springs Republican was among more than 20 state and local officials endorsing DeSantis on the day after he participated in the Republican National Committee’s first primary debate in Milwaukee on Wednesday night.

Liston told Colorado Politics that he’s long been impressed by DeSantis and considers him an electable alternative to primary frontrunner former President Donald Trump, who skipped the debate and was set to turn himself in on criminal charges in Georgia on Thursday.

“DeSantis doesn’t carry the baggage that Trump does,” Liston said, adding that he believes Democrats will hammer the former president’s vulnerabilities if he’s the GOP nominee, throwing the election to President Joe Biden.

“Republicans are looking desperately for an alternative to Trump. I think Biden is very beatable by anyone but Trump,” Liston said. “I want to win.”

Colorado is set to join at least 14 other states holding a presidential primary next year on March 5, known as Super Tuesday because more delegates will be allocated on that day than any other day in the primary calendar.

Trump has held a commanding, double-digit polling lead for months over nearly a dozen Republican challengers, with DeSantis parked firmly in second place.

Others in the race include businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, former Vice President Mike Pence, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Arkansas Gov. Ava Hutchinson and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who all appeared at Wednesday’s debate.

According to FiveThirtyEight’s national polling average as of Thursday afternoon, Trump had the support of 51.6% of voters, followed by DeSantis at 14.8% and Ramaswamy at 10.3%, with the others trailing in low single-digits.

Trump carried Colorado’s 2020 presidential primary against nominal opposition with 92% of the vote but went on to lose the state to Biden in the general election by 13.5 percentage points.

Liston said he thinks DeSantis has a shot at winning Colorado’s primary next year but conceded that it’s still early, so hard to predict what might happen in the next seven months.

The Republican presidential candidates’ campaigns have so far been concentrating efforts in a handful of early primary and caucus states – dominated by New Hampshire, Iowa and South Carolina – and have yet to start organizing in a big way ahead in Colorado.