By Jonathan Allen and Greg Giroux, CQ Staff

Colorado Democrat Jared Polis hasn’t even won election to the House yet, and already the 33-year-old tech-boom tycoon is navigating the institutional paths to power like a seasoned veteran.

Polis transferred $100,000 from his campaign committee to the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) on Sept. 15, a little more than a month after his narrow primary victory in Colorado’s heavily Democratic 2nd District made him a safe bet to succeed five-term Democratic Rep. Mark Udall , who is running for an open Senate seat.

Polis also has opened up his campaign treasury to draft checks totaling nearly $25,000 for fellow freshman-class hopefuls in some of the most competitive races in the country, including fellow Coloradoan Betsy Markey, Minnesotan Ashwin Madia and Nevadan Dina Titus.

The contributions are a surefire way for Polis to earn attention from senior party leaders and to build a constituency among fellow freshmen after the election. Polis campaign spokeswoman Dayna Morain said that Polis has “always been a team player” and that he “recognizes that this is a unique opportunity for the Democrats to establish a governing majority to turn this country around.”

Another would-be House member who has been donating to party candidates is Illinois Republican Aaron Schock, a 27-year-old state representative who set up a “leadership” political action committee after easily winning a primary election in February in the state’s Peoria-centered 18th District. Schock, who is heavily favored to succeed retiring Republican Rep. Ray LaHood , started cutting checks of $5,000 apiece to non-incumbent Republicans earlier this month, including several who are certain to win and therefore vote in freshman class leadership elections.

These young guns are part of a small and very slowly growing set of politicians who have presaged leadership potential by capitalizing on electoral safety and fundraising prowess to raise their profiles before they take the oath of office.

Whether the early giving turns pre-frosh candidates into political players or simply reflects acumen that will serve their ambitions later on, it is a tactic that has been employed by fast-rising stars in the past.

When Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz arrived on Capitol Hill for freshman orientation in November of 2004, she already had contributed $100,000 to the DCCC to help elect Democrats in the run-up to the general election.

Wasserman Schultz promptly won a spot as the freshman class representative on the Steering and Policy Committee, which determines legislative committee assignments, and she is now widely viewed as a leading contender to head the DCCC in the future.

That same year, current Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal , then an incoming Republican House freshman, donated campaign cash to the majority of his fellow first-time lawmakers by mid-October. He sent a letter to his new colleagues the day after the election asking for their support in his bid to be president of the freshman class, a largely symbolic post that he easily won.

Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said candidates who feel secure in their own election will often look for ways to build the party, including donating funds to others who are running for office.

“The side benefit of that is it obviously creates relationships,” DeLay said.

Indeed, the money is well-received by individual candidates and party committees.