In late December 2001 Harvey was selected to fill a vacancy in the Colorado House of Representatives. He was sworn into office in January 2002. For the 2002 legislative session, Harvey was appointed to serve on the Business Affairs & Labor; Information & Technology Committees Harvey was re-elected to the Colorado House in 2002. For the 2003/2004 General Assembly, Harvey was appointed to serve as Vice-Chair of the Agriculture Livestock & Natural Resources, Chairman of the Capital Development and as a member of the Business Affairs & Labor Committee
2004 Election
Harvey was re-elected to the Colorado House in 2004 For the 2005 session, Harvey was appointed to serve on the Agriculture Livestock & Natural Resources; and the Judiciary Committee. In 2006 he was appointed to Agriculture Livestock & Natural Resources; Finance
2006 Election
In 2006, Harvey was elected to Senate District 30, defeating his Democratic opponent Shelly Tokerud with 62.7% of the vote.
Congressional Campaign
In early 2008, Harvey announced his candidacy for the CD-6 Congressional race in Colorado. After an aggressive grassroots campaign showed swelling support ahead of the CD-6 Republican Assembly, two main contenders for the party nomination selected to not participate in the Assembly. This left a run-off between Harvey and State SenatorSteve Ward. Harvey won the Republican nomination with 55 percent of the Assembly votes. Harvey's campaign struggled to gain momentum after the District Assembly, and he ultimately finished third in the Republican primary vote in August 2008, with 14 percent of the total vote, finishing behind Wil Armstrong and Mike Coffman, the ultimate successor.
For the 2010 legislative session, Harvey was appointed to serve on the Senate Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Energy Committee; the Appropriations Committee; and the Business, Labor, and Technology Committee.
2010 Election
In 2010 Harvey sought re-election to the Senate. He faced no opposition in the primaries, and defeated his Democratic opponent Katherine Facchinello with 67% of the vote.
2011 Legislative Session
For the 2011 legislative session, Senator Harvey was appointed to serve on the Senate Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Energy Committee; the Appropriations Committee; and the Business, Labor, and Technology Committee. He was the ranking Republican member on the Appropriations and Business, Labor, and Technology Committees. In 2011, Senator Harvey's major focus regarding legislation was working to maintain the integrity of the Colorado electoral process. He sponsored several bills that sought to do this, such as SB11-018, SB11-057, and HB11-1003. These measures would have required proof of citizenship to vote in Colorado elections, and defined what type of identification qualified for election-related purposes.
2012 Legislative Session
2013 Legislative Session
For the 2013 legislative session, Senator Harvey was appointed to serve on the Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Energy Committee; the Appropriations Committee, and the State, Veterans, and Military Affairs Committee.
Stop Hillary PAC/Committee to Defend the President
The Stop Hillary PAC is a Carey Committee, also known as a hybrid PAC, established in 2013. Harvey served as the PAC's chairman. The committee's aim was to oppose Hillary Clinton in her bid for the 2016 presidential election. The group was active in airing ads portraying Clinton in the context of the 2012 terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya. Harvey now serves as Chairman of the Committee to Defend the President, a pro-Trump super PAC.