Former U.S. Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell on Wednesday endorsed business owner Joe O’Dea in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Michael Bennet.

Campbell said the first-time candidate can unite the state’s voters to take back the Senate seat Campbell held for two terms in the 1990s and early 2000s.

O’Dea is facing state Rep. Ron Hanks, R-Cañon City, in the June 28 primary. Bennet, who is seeking a third full term, is unopposed for his party’s nomination.

“Joe’s story is a Colorado story,” Campbell said in a statement released by the O’Dea campaign. “His character has helped him forge one of our state’s most successful construction firms, raise a beautiful family, and come November, reclaim my Senate seat for working families. We need a senator who is focused on ensuring that our government works for the people, not against them. Joe will be that senator.”

Campbell, a former Democratic state lawmaker who represented the 3rd Congressional District for two terms, described his decision to switch parties two years after his 1992 election to the Senate.

“I left the Democratic party in 1995 because I knew that it was no longer the party of working Americans,” he said. “Joe O’Dea has the ability to bring together Republicans, independents, and even disaffected Democrats who are fed up with their party’s failure to address the issues that matter. I encourage all to join me in supporting Joe’s campaign.”

A renowned jewelry designer and world-class athlete, Campbell, whose father was part Northern Cheyenne, was the first Native American to serve in the U.S. Senate. Last year, he was inducted into the National Native American Hall of Fame in Great Falls, Montana.

O’Dea said he was honored to receive Campbell’s endorsement.

“Sen. Nighthorse Campbell tells a story, passed down from his great grandfather, Blackhorse, of how General Custer dropped the American flag at the Battle of Little Bighorn,” O’Dea said in a statement. “Members of the Northern Cheyenne tribe picked up that flag, and now, as the senator says, that flag unites us all in this great country.”

Added O’Dea: “That story resonates with me a great deal, and I am determined to get to Washington D.C. and fight so that all Coloradans have the same opportunities I did to achieve my dreams.”

It’s the second time Campbell has made an endorsement in the primary. Last summer, he endorsed business owner and former Olympian Eli Bremer, who failed to qualify for the ballot at the Republicans’ state assembly in April.

Campbell served in the Korean War and competed in judo in the 1964 Summer Olympics after winning a gold medal in the sport a year earlier at the Pan-American Games. After declining to seek a third term in the Senate in 2004, he formed a lobbying firm. He and his wife, Linda, live in Ignacio.