U.S. Representative Lauren Boebert (R-CO), who recently switched congressional districts (from 3rd to the 4th a.k.a. the “reddest district” in Colorado) while running for re-election, received the endorsement of GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump this week.
Today, Colorado’s current 4th district Rep. Ken Buck, who had said he would not seek reelection, announced that he will not finish out his term and will instead resign at the end of next week.
Statement from Congressman Ken Buck on his departure from Congress. pic.twitter.com/orjSzenZnv
— Rep. Ken Buck (@RepKenBuck) March 12, 2024
Buck told Dana Bash at CNN his decision to leave stems from frustration over the “dysfunction” on Capitol Hill. Buck said: “It is the worst year of the nine years and three months that I’ve been in Congress and having talked to former members, it’s the worst year in 40, 50 years to be in Congress.”
He added: “This place has just devolved into this bickering and nonsense and not really doing the job for the American people,” he said.
Bash’s CNN colleague Manu Raju reports today that Boebert “signaled” to him that “she is NOT angling for the GOP nod in the upcoming Colorado special election to fill the seat of Rep. Ken Buck.” If she did run to fill Buck’s temporary seat — a term which would end at the end of the current Congress on January 3, 2025 — she would have to resign her current seat in the House.
Boebert told Raju: “I think this is a play by the uniparty, and I’m not resigning and giving up on my constituents in the third.”
Rep. Lauren Boebert signaled to me she is NOT angling for the GOP nod in the upcoming Colorado special election to fill the seat of Rep. Ken Buck, who is resigning next week.
Boebert suggested she would continue to run in the GOP primary to fill the seat in November for a full…
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) March 13, 2024
[Note: Boebert is one of several elected MAGA adherents who use the term Uniparty “to disparage fellow Republicans who work with Democrats to pass bills that fall short of conservative preferences.” Others include Marjorie Taylor Greene (GA), Matt Gaetz (FL), and Senators Rick Scott (FL) and J.D. Vance (OH) — all of whom voted against the latest bipartisan government funding bill negotiated in part by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).]
Boebert, who placed fifth in early, unscientific straw polls in the 4th district, told Raju, “I will win the primary.”