(Ken Silva, Headline USA) Rep. Ken Buck, R-Colo., made a surprise announcement Tuesday that he will be leaving Congress by the end of next week.
Buck announced his retirement last November, but indicated at the time that he intended to serve the rest of this term. Buck’s Tuesday announcement did not explain the change in timing.
Liberals suggested that Buck can’t take being part of the GOP any longer, while conservatives suggested that the congressman is being blackmailed out of office.
House GOP has a two seat majority as of next week https://t.co/6w3fxfZZno
— Juliegrace Brufke (@juliegraceb) March 12, 2024
Either way, “House GOP has a two seat majority as of next week,” noted Capitol Hill reporter Juliegrace Brufke in response to the announcement.
When Buck initially announced his retirement last month, he downplayed valid GOP concerns about the 2020 presidential election and the persecution of peaceful MAGA protestors in his departure message.
In a video message posted online, Buck said last November that voters’ hopes that Republicans will take decisive action may be in vain, and that his party’s “insidious narratives breed widespread cynicism and erode Americans’ confidence in the rule of law.”
“Too many Republican leaders are lying to America, claiming that the 2020 election was stolen, describing Jan. 6 as an unguided tour of the Capitol and asserting that the ensuing prosecutions are a weaponization of our justice system,” Buck said at the time.
Buck has not adequately explained why GOP leaders are wrong in expressing concerns about the Justice Department targeting participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol Hill protest. The vast majority of the protestors were entirely peaceful, and the DOJ has since targeted legitimate journalists and other activists simply for stepping foot in the “restricted area” of Capitol grounds.
The 64-year-old former prosecutor, who has served in Congress since 2015, was one of the eight Republicans who joined with Democrats to oust House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in early October. Buck eventually threw his support behind Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana for speaker, despite Johnson’s own efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election through a legal challenge.
Buck’s decision not to seek reelection came the same day U.S. Rep. Kay Granger of Texas, the Republican chairwoman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee, said she would not seek reelection in 2024 after nearly three decades in Congress.
Granger, who at 80 is the nation’s longest-serving GOP congresswoman, said, “It’s time for the next generation to step up and take the mantle and be a strong and fierce representative for the people.
Buck’s primary challenger, MAGA candidate Trent Leisy, has celebrated Buck’s departure.
“My RINO primary opponent, Ken Buck, just DROPPED OUT OF THE RACE over President Trump’s ACCURATE rigged election claims,” he said last November. “I’m running as an America First candidate that will MAKE COLORADO GREAT AGAIN!”
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
