The Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives will shrink again next week, as Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) announced this afternoon he is resigning from his seat effective next Friday, March 22.
His brief statement announcing the decision to leave a vacancy before elections later this year was posted on social media during a recess of the House Judiciary Committee’s questioning of former Biden classified documents special counsel Robert Hur. Mr. Buck serves as the third highest ranking Republican on the committee.
“It has been an honor to serve the people of Colorado’s 4th District in Congress for the past 9 years,” he added in his statement. “I want to thank them for their support and encouragement throughout the years.”
Shortly after Mr. Buck’s announcement, Democratic Gov. Jared Polis said a special election to fill his seat for the remainder of his term would be held on June 25, aligning with an already scheduled primary for congressional elections in the state.
Voters will be able to choose either the same person to fill the remainder of his term and compete in the November general election, or choose a different candidate for each.
Why Now?
In an interview with CNN directly following the meeting’s recess and his announcement on social media, Mr. Buck said he had a passion for changing electoral laws in the United States and is leaving to “find the right organization to join” and “start working on that issue.”“Everywhere I go in Colorado…I hear that people are not happy with Trump, and they’re not happy with Biden,” he told CNN in the interview. “We have to have better candidates up and down the ballot, not just President, but Senate, House, local offices. We’ve got to find better ways to elect candidates and bring America together.”
When asked why he is leaving now as his party already has a slim majority in the House, he said “it’s important to get in the mix of this election cycle and start talking about the issues that people recognize are such a problem right now.”
He added that Congress is “dysfunctional,” pointing out that even as the third ranking member of the Judiciary Committee he still hadn’t gotten to ask his questions to Mr. Hur, despite the hearing proceeding for hours prior to the recess.
Mr. Buck’s Background
Mr. Buck has represented Colorado’s 4th Congressional District since his election in 2014. In addition to numerous caucuses, he serves on the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on the Administrative State, Regulatory Reform, and Antitrust, and the Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement. Also, on the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittees on the Indo-Pacific and the Western Hemisphere, according to his congressional website.The Colorado Republican worked on the Iran-Contra Investigation in the 1980s for then-Rep. Dick Cheney (R-Wyo.) and then became a prosecutor with the U.S. Department of Justice before joining the Colorado U.S. Attorney’s office. In 2004, he was elected for the first of three times as the Weld County District Attorney.
In his resignation video, Mr. Buck said, “Americans are rightfully concerned about our nation’s future and are looking to Republicans in Washington for a course correction,” going on to assert that the country is “on a collision course with reality.”
Mr. Buck then pointed the finger at members of his own party.
“Too many Republican leaders are lying to America. Claiming that the 2020 election was stolen, describing January 6 as an unguided tour of the Capitol, and asserting that the ensuing prosecutions are weaponization of our justice system. These insidious narratives breed widespread cynicism and erode Americans’ confidence in the rule of law.”
The congressman also told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell in a Nov. 1 interview while announcing his decision not to seek reelection that one of the primary reasons was his frustration over the legislative body’s ability to get their jobs done.
“I always have been disappointed with our inability in Congress to deal with major issues,” Mr. Buck said. During his video announcement, he said he believes Republicans have suffered a “significant departure from the enduring principles of conservatives.”
“We belong to the party of Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan ... The Republican Party of today, however, is ignoring self-evident truths about the rule of law.”
The Coloradan said he believes the exceptionalism of the nation he has served for more than three decades lies in “answers developed from the governed, not the government.”
Over the past few years, Mr. Buck has been vocal in his criticism of Democrats, saying that the party engages in extremist strategies in order to polarize Americans. In addition, he has criticized the implementation of Critical Race Theory in the military and has expressed concern about the fentanyl epidemic in the United States.
