U.S. Rep. Ken Buck will leave Congress on March 22, the Windsor Republican announced Tuesday in a surprise decision that’s scrambling the already highly contentious and competitive race to replace him that includes U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert.
“It has been an honor to serve the people of Colorado’s 4th District in Congress for the past nine years,” Buck said in a written statement. “I want to thank them for their support and encouragement throughout the years. 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.”
Buck, who was already planning to retire after his current term ends in January 2025, didn’t provide more information on his sudden decision, which was made public through a news release.
Federal law requires that Buck’s vacant seat in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District be filled through a special election.
Gov. Jared Polis, who is responsible for setting the date of the election, on Tuesday said he planned to hold it June 25, the same day as Colorado’s primary, to minimize the cost to taxpayers. The governor had to set the date of the special election no fewer than 85 days and no more than 100 days after the date the vacancy occurred.
But the decision may also serve to confuse voters in the 4th District, who will be asked to decide two elections at once.
Because the 4th District is so favorable to Republicans, its nearly certain a Republican will the special election and that whoever wins the GOP primary will win in November, too. But the joint primary and special vacancy election could also result in the district having one representative for a few months and then another come January.
“I thank Ken for his years of public service to Colorado,” Polis, who was informed of Buck’s decision before he announced it publicly, said in a statement. “From his time as Weld County district attorney to his time in Congress, he has shown his deep commitment to improve public safety and to serve our nation.”
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A GOP vacancy committee in the Republican-stronghold district will be convened to select the party’s nominee for the special election. The same will happen on the Democratic side.
Buck’s decision will complicate Boebert’s bid in the 4th District, which includes Douglas County and Loveland and spans across the Eastern Plains.
The Republican currently represents the 3rd Congressional District, which is based on the other side of Colorado. She would likely have to resign her seat to run and win the special election to replace Buck. There doesn’t appear to be a historical precedent for a member of Congress representing two districts at once. Colorado law prohibits a candidate from running for more than one office at a time.
If Boebert resigns from her district before her term ends in January, that would mean another U.S. House special election in the state this year.
“We have to have better candidates”
In an interview with CNN Tuesday after his announcement, Buck called the current climate in the U.S. House “the worst years of the nine years and three months I’ve been in Congress.”
Buck said he was leaving his seat “because I think there’s a job out there that I want to go do.
“Everywhere I go in Colorado I hear that people are not happy with Trump and they’re not happy with Biden,” Buck said. “I think we need to change our electoral laws here and I have a passion for that and I am going to lead and I am going to find the right organization to join and I’m going to start working on that issue. We have to have better candidates — up and down the ballot.”
There is an election overhaul push in Colorado underway.
Kent Thiry, the wealthy former CEO of the Denver-based dialysis giant DaVita, is backing a set of 2024 ballot measures that would make Colorado’s primaries open, with candidates from all parties running against each other. The top four vote-getters would advance to a ranked choice general election. The proposals would also require candidates to gather petition signatures to make the ballot and eliminate the caucus and assembly route. Finally, they would do away with legislative vacancy committees and replace them with special elections when a state lawmaker leaves their seat in the middle of their term.
The congressman denied in a text message that he was joining Unite America, which is co-chaired by Thiry and that supports the Colorado election overhaul push. The organization didn’t respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Buck was spotted last week at a Washington, D.C., book party for Nick Troiano, who leads Unite America, according to Politico. His book is titled “The Primary Solution: Rescuing our Democracy From the Fringes” and it advocates for many of the changes in the Thiry-backed ballot initatives in Colorado.
Additionally, Owen Medina Loftus, senior director of external affairs for Unite America, served as Buck’s spokesman in his 2010 U.S. Senate campaign.
Buck declines to endorse
Buck, in speaking to CNN, refused to endorse a successor in the 4th District.
Boebert is one of about 10 Republicans who were already running to replace Buck when he announced he would be stepping down on March 22.
Also running in the June 25 GOP primary in the 4th District are:
- Former state Sen. Jerry Sonnenberg, who is currently a Logan County commissioner
- State Rep. Richard Holtorf
- State Rep. Mike Lynch
- Former state Sen. Ted Harvey
- Conservative commentator Deborah Flora
All of those candidates are also likely to seek the GOP nomination for the vacancy election.
“This new vacancy doesn’t change my race, nor my commitment to proving to Republicans voters why I am the strongest conservative voice to serve them in Washington,” Sonnenberg said in a written statement. “I look forward to earning this nomination and getting to D.C. as soon as possible so that we can secure our border, defend our constitutional rights, and hold Joe Biden and this administration accountable for their repeated failures.”
Whoever wins the 4th District vacancy election will have the momentum and power of incumbency come November. But that probably won’t matter given the district’s Republican makeup.
The 4th District is the most favorable to Republicans of any congressional district in Colorado.
Buck’s decision also temporarily shrinks Republicans’ already razor-thin majority in Congress. By scheduling the special election on June 25 instead of earlier, Polis, a Democrat and former congressman, is giving his party a leg up in Washington for a few weeks.
It has been decades since there was a special election in Colorado to fill a congressional vacancy.
In 1982, Republican U.S. Rep.-elect Jack Swigert, a former astronaut, died soon after he was elected to Congress in the newly created 6th Congressional District. A special election was held in early 1983, and Republican Dan Schaefer of Lakewood won the seat. Schaefer went on to hold the seat until early 1999, after he decided not to run for reelection to Congress.
Colorado Sun correspondent Sandra Fish and staff writer Brian Eason contributed to this report.