January 20, 2016 01:40 PM UTC

Ken Buck Backs Ted Cruz

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Denver Post’s Mark Matthews reports, it’s a match made in heaven:

U.S. Rep. Ken Buck on Wednesday became the first member of Colorado’s congressional delegation to back U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz for president — calling the Texas Republican (and fellow Princeton alum) a “strong, conservative leader” who has “fought hard against the Washington establishment.”

“We need Ted in 2016 in order to help restore America back to the principles that made this country exceptional,” Buck said in a statement released by the Cruz campaign.

Rep. Ken Buck’s endorsement reflects the sense of the Tea Party contingent in the U.S. House, of which Buck is a leader and which has been strongly influenced by Sen. Ted Cruz as a weapon against the “establishment” House GOP leadership under now departed Speaker John Boehner. Cruz has arguably been a more effective leader in Washington working with the so-called “Freedom Caucus” and their allies than in his own chamber.

With the other “Trump alternative” Marco Rubio consistently behind Cruz in national polls despite endorsements including Colorado Sen. Cory Gardner and Rep. Mike Coffman, Buck may be making a smart call–more than Coffman, whose track record on presidential candidates (he backed Texas Gov. Rick Perry in 2012) isn’t really all that great.

We also assume that Buck and Cruz both eat ducks, so they have that to bond over.