Rep. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) will retire from Congress next week, he announced Tuesday, a move that will narrow the House GOP’s razor-thin majority even further.
Buck — who has become known for breaking from his party on various issues and criticizing Republicans on election denialism — announced last year that he would depart the House at the end of his current term, but he expedited that timeline Tuesday.
“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. 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 with my family,” he wrote in a statement.
The announcement from Buck, 65, puts a bookend on his nine-plus year tenure in Congress, which, in the past year, included a number of controversial votes that put him in direct conflict with other members of the House GOP conference — including his decision to oust former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) and his opposition to the effort to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
His impending departure will knock the House GOP’s majority down by one, bringing the breakdown in the House to 218 Republicans and 213 Democrats. Buck’s exit will not change the margin: Republicans will still only afford to lose two of their members on any party-line votes, assuming all lawmakers are present.
But his resignation will, nonetheless, decrease the cushion GOP lawmakers will have on those partisan measures, making it more difficult to pass messaging legislation in the coming months.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters he was “surprised” about Buck’s announcement, noting that he did not know the news ahead of time.
A Buck spokesperson, however, said the Congressman left the Speaker a voicemail 30 minutes before his announcement went public.
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#BREAKING: Rep. Ken Buck will retire from Congress next week, he announced, a move that will narrow the House GOP's razor-thin majority even further. https://t.co/8DqWreSFIj pic.twitter.com/afnHR85WDV
— The Hill (@thehill) March 12, 2024
Buck elaborated on his news w reporters just now: "We've taken impeachment and we've made it a social media issue as opposed to a constitutional concept — this place keeps going downhill and I don't need to spend more time here." https://t.co/44UFu2ofwL
— Jacqueline Alemany (@JaxAlemany) March 12, 2024
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