Ken Buck Torches GOP After Declaring He’s Leaving Congress in Days
Representative Ken Buck, one of the few Republicans willing to call out his party’s ridiculous efforts to impeach Joe Biden, announced Tuesday that he will leave Congress in less than two weeks.
“It has been an honor to serve the people of Colorado’s 4th District in Congress for the past 9 years. I want to thank them for their support and encouragement throughout the years,” Buck said in a statement.
“Today, I am announcing that I will depart Congress at the end of next week. I look forward to staying involved in our political process, as well as spending more time in Colorado and with my family.”
“It is the worst year of the nine years and three months that I’ve been in Congress,” Buck later elaborated to CNN. “And having talked to former members it’s the worst year in 40, 50 years to be in Congress.”
When asked whether Buck is leaving due to tension among House Republicans, Buck replied, “I think this place is dysfunctional.”
“Instead of having decorum, instead of operating in a professional manner, this place has just devolved into this bickering and nonsense and not really doing the job for the American people.”
Buck had announced in November that he would not seek reelection, but he indicated at the time that he would complete his current term. Tuesday’s decision will now set off a scramble to find his temporary replacement.
The race to replace Buck is already fairly high profile. Representative Lauren Boebert, who currently represents Colorado’s 3rd district, announced in December that she would move to the 4th and run to succeed Buck. Although the district is a GOP stronghold and will likely send another Republican to Washington, there is no guarantee it will be Boebert, who has struggled to gain traction in a new area and faced accusations of carpetbagging.
Boebert could also run to replace Buck in the now-necessary special election, but that would complicate her career even further. Colorado Sun reporter Jesse Paul pointed out that Boebert would likely have to resign her current position in order to be chosen as the GOP special election nominee. If she does and then loses, she would be out of Congress.
Buck’s departure will also leave House Republicans with just a two-seat majority. The party is already struggling to accomplish anything, even some of its signature projects such as the Biden impeachment inquiry. In just two short weeks, it will be even harder.
Although Buck is a Republican, and even a member of the party’s far-right House Freedom Caucus, he has often been at odds with his fellow Republicans in the past few years. When he first announced his retirement, he slammed the GOP for pushing “self-serving lies,” including that the 2020 election had been stolen.
More recently, Buck has been seemingly the only Republican who refused to fall in line with his party’s efforts to impeach Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas. Buck has repeatedly pointed out that neither impeachment effort is based on any evidence of wrongdoing. Nevertheless, his party has plowed forward.
This story has been updated.
