January 23, 2016 05:41 PM UTC

"Tea Party" Tim Leonard Wins HD-25 Seat

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• by: Colorado Pols

That’s the word from Jefferson County’s Taj Majal this afternoon, where the political machine of U.S. Senate candidate and GOP grassroots leader Tim Neville has succeeding in winning the Colorado House seat of retiring Rep. Jon Keyser–Keyser, of course, resigning to take on Neville in the 2016 GOP U.S. Senate primary.

After candidate they backed wins big for #keyservacancy @KimRansom @PatrickForCO @Everett4Colo #coleg #copolitics pic.twitter.com/cuKzXSU5zK

— Ernest Lee Luning (@eluning) January 23, 2016

RMGO must be quite pleased to get Tim Leonard appointed. All their heavily supported folks were in his column. @eluning #coleg #copolitics

— Colorado Ceasefire (@COCeasefire) January 23, 2016

The appointment of Tim Leonard to succeed Jon Keyser, overwhelmingly and in the first round of balloting, is a huge win for the Jefferson County Neville political coalition. Leonard, a co-founder of the whackjob-friendly American Constitution Party willingly hijacked by Tom Tancredo in 2010, was far enough to the right to lose in SD-16 to Democrat Jeanne Nicholson in the Tea Party year that year but the party’s recent shift rightward under Neville’s influence has, if you will, brought Republicans to him.

In addition to Rep. Leonard making the Colorado General Assembly a very colorful place in the coming months, something Democrats will be happy to record for posterity, this win shows how the Neville machine is in full control of the party in the state’s most important suburban battleground.

And that is a story much bigger than Colorado House District 25.