Turmoil Follows Rep. Buck’s Surprise Exit

Barely a week after Rep. Ken Buck announced he was resigning from Congress, Republicans in Colorado’s 4th District and nationwide were thrust into turmoil.

Soon after Buck announced his resignation, Colorado Democrat Gov. Jared Polis set the special election for June 25. That’s the same day as the primary for nomination for what is considered tantamount to election in one of the state’s most Republican House districts.

Three of the Republicans vying to succeed Buck in the primary are also seeking nomination at a yet-to-be-determined meeting of party leaders: radio talk show host Deborah Flora, former state Senate President Jerry Sonnenberg, and former state Sen. Ted Harvey, chair of the anti-Biden Super PAC Committee to Defeat the President.

Conspicuous by her absence from the special election sweepstakes is the best-known of Republican hopefuls in the 4th District: Lauren Boebert, two-term congresswoman from the 3rd District and an outspoken (and inevitably controversial) MAGA Republican.

Earlier this year, Boebert — who won reelection in 2022 in the closest House race in the nation — announced she was running in the far more Republican 4th District in ’24.

Widespread charges of “carpetbagger” notwithstanding, Boebert was easily the best-known GOP contender in the 4th District and had by far the most money ($1.3 million at the end of last year) in her campaign account.

But Buck’s decision complicated Boebert’s path to reelection in the 4th District. To run in the sudden special election, she would have had to resign her present seat and compete for the short-term nomination in a conclave of party insiders rather than a primary (Democrats announced an online convention April 1 to choose their nominee, while Republicans will hold a convention March 28 to select their candidate in the special election).

“Swampy” is how Boebert branded the Buck resignation and the resulting process for stopgap nomination. She promptly announced she would not seek nomination in the special election but would continue.

So Republicans are faced with one of their candidates winning election to a stopgap term and another nominated to the full term. In Washington, Buck’s resignation means that the Republican majority in the House is now a wafer-thin 217 to 213 seats — the closest since 1930 — and will remain that way until the 4th District seat is filled June 25.

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.