A leading national conservation group and an organization that advocates for American involvement in global affairs endorsed U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet’s bid for a third term, with both citing the Colorado Democrat’s leadership on issues they peg as important to state voters.

The National Resources Defense Council Action Fund hailed Bennet as a “climate champion” in its initial round of endorsements and praised his work helping pass legislation involving public lands, wildfire prevention and environmental cleanup.

Foreign Policy for America Action Network, the nonpartisan political arm of a group that supports “principled American engagement in the world,” said Bennet won the group’s backing because he understands the link between the country’s strength abroad and strength at home.

Seven Republicans are seeking the nomination in Colorado’s June primary for the chance to face Bennet in November.

“Over his two terms in the Senate, Bennet has been a powerful voice for Coloradans and the issues that matter most to them — including the responsible stewardship of public lands and waters, a cause he’s been championing since he first arrived in the Capitol back in 2009,” the NRDC Action Fund said in its endorsement. “Coloradans would be lucky to have him representing them in Washington for a third term.”

Among the recent legislative accomplishments the group cited were Bennet’s sponsorship of a bill to boost funding to clean up abandoned oil and gas wells and his work helping establish permanent funding of the Land and Water Conservation Fund with the Great American Outdoors Act, legislation sponsored by Bennet’s former Republican colleague, Cory Gardner.

The politically oriented nonprofit is affiliated with the separate National Resources Defense Council, which counts nearly 40,000 members in Colorado.

Dan Baer, a former U.S. ambassador to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and a Foreign Policy for America advisory member, had high praise for Bennet in the group’s statement.

“Bennet has built a reputation as a principled problem-solver in Colorado, and he brings that same ethic to the way he sees the U.S.’s role in a difficult world,” Baer said. “Bennet understands that an America that’s strong abroad starts with an America that’s strong at home. His support for the child tax credit is about investing in the middle class and in the next generation of Americans so that we’re ready to compete. And on the Senate Intelligence Committee he has sought to work with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to ensure that the U.S. is ready to respond to the global challenges of the coming decades. Coloradans, and all Americans, benefit from his smart, values-driven leadership.”

Baer, a former executive director of the Colorado Department of Higher Education, ran in the 2020 Democratic primary for Gardner’s seat but withdrew from the race after former Gov. John Hickenlooper got in. Hickenlooper won the nomination and went on to unseat Gardner.

Not so fast, a spokesman for the Colorado Republican Party said in a statement to Colorado Politics after the endorsements had been announced.

“These endorsements are a joke,” state GOP executive director Joe Jackson said in a text message. “Sen. Gardner was the one who got the Great American Outdoors Act passed and signed into law, not Bennet. Furthermore, where is the CORE Act that Bennet and Hickenlooper championed every day in 2020?”

Added Jackson: It’s convenient that Dan Baer has apparently forgotten that Bennet was MIA on Afghanistan, voted against sanctions on Putin, and failed to make the Child Tax Credit Permanent, all while Democrats had full control in DC. Voters will learn that Bennet hasn’t actually achieved anything after 13 years in Washington, except blindly following Schumer and Biden.”

Editor’s note: This story has been updated with a comment from the Colorado Republican Party.