Republican Buck will not seek re-election, citing his party’s election denial

Representative Ken Buck, a conservative Republican from Colorado who played a central role in ousting Kevin McCarthy from the presidency, said he will not seek re-election next year, citing his party’s election denial and the refusal of many members to condemn the elections of January 6, 2021. , attack on the Capitol.

Mr. Buck, who is serving his fifth term from a sprawling district east of Denver after a career as a prosecutor, said he decided to step aside because his differences with today’s Republican Party had become too great for him to join its ranks. continue to serve. He condemned his party’s unwillingness to tackle big issues and said the party had seriously damaged itself among voters.

“We have lost our way,” said Mr. Buck, 64, who made his intentions known in interviews and a video news report. “We have an identity crisis in the Republican Party. If we can’t address the issue of election denial and continue down that path, we’re not going to have any credibility with the American people that we’re going to solve the problems.”

His announcement followed an earlier Wednesday by Rep. Kay Granger, Republican of Texas and chair of the Appropriations Committee, who said she would also not run again next year. She also played a prominent role in the speaker showdown. Others are likely to follow suit, given the chaos that has engulfed the Republican-led House of Representatives.

Mr Buck’s decision comes after several months in which his frustration and dissatisfaction with his party became clear. He is the third House member to declare this week that he will not seek re-election next year, after Representative Earl Blumenauer, Democrat of Oregon and a House member since 1996, said on Monday that he would not seek re-election.

In the midst of the speaker battle, Rep. Debbie Lesko, Republican of Arizona, announced she would leave Congress after her current term, declaring that “Washington is broken right now.”

Ms. Granger, 80, surprised her colleagues by refusing to endorse Representative Jim Jordan of Ohio, the party’s nominee for chairman, on the floor. That prompted some calls for her to lose her gavel on the Appropriations Committee. Instead, she voted for Representative Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the second Republican to win the first internal Republican contest for the nomination to succeed Mr. McCarthy, but withdrew when he determined he did not have the votes. She is facing party deadlines for her time as chair, and for the first time in Congress’ history, is part of an all-female team leading the House and Senate spending panels.

“While I will not be running for re-election, I intend to serve the remainder of my term and work with our new Chairman and my colleagues to advance our conservative agenda and complete the job I was elected to do ”, she said in a speech. rack.

Mr. Buck, one of eight Republicans who voted with Democrats to oust Mr. McCarthy, is also the second Republican member of Congress to publicly break with his party by announcing he will not run for office again, and that challenges the cultural dominance of the far right. and his continued loyalty to former President Donald J. Trump. Sen. Mitt Romney, Republican of Utah, announced in September that he would not seek a second term, saying the “Trump wing of the party is talking about different kinds of grudges, righting and settling scores and rethinking the 2020 elections.”

Mr. Buck, a former federal and state prosecutor, was dogged by several verbal blunders and lost a Senate race in 2010 to Senator Michael Bennet, a Democrat. He briefly considered running for Senate again in 2014, but instead won the House seat in the more conservative, rural eastern part of Colorado and has remained so ever since.

A budget hawk who blames both parties for their refusal to identify Social Security and Medicare as drivers of the federal deficit, Mr. Buck repeatedly said that Mr. McCarthy was not living up to his promises to focus on cutting spending. spending and establishing new oversight of federal agencies. and their budgets.

In addition to opposing Mr. McCarthy, Mr. Buck also rejected Mr. Jordan as speaker, saying Mr. Jordan’s refusal to accept the 2020 election results and his support of activities on Jan. 6 were disqualifying.

“We promise we will resolve the issues, but we cannot acknowledge what happened on January 6,” Mr Buck said. “These January 6 suspects are not political prisoners. They beat police officers. They broke windows.” Mr. Buck hangs a poster outside his office that reads “Back the Blue” and considers himself a strong supporter of law enforcement.

He ultimately supported Representative Mike Johnson of Louisiana for speaker despite Mr. Johnson’s own attempt to overturn the election results through a legal challenge that ultimately failed, but he said Mr. Johnson had taken the proper legal route through the courts.

Mr. Buck has also questioned the rationale for Republican pursuit of impeachment charges against President Biden and faced backlash over his frequent breaks with the party, including death threats. He would likely face a primary challenge if he were to run, but said he was confident he could prevail.

He also blamed Republicans for foreign policy, saying the party has strayed far from Ronald Reagan’s ideological foundations, with many of his Republican colleagues failing to recognize the need to support Ukraine in its war with Russia.

“If America is not strong, the world will be in chaos,” he said. “It’s not just in our interest to be there. The world depends on a big brother to keep people from fighting.”

Mr Buck said he planned to complete his term but would explore other options. He has significantly increased his media profile as a Republican willing to challenge current party orthodoxy and said he thought there were better ways to participate outside the House of Representatives.

“I have a passion to stay in this fight,” he said. “Whether it’s a technology issue, a foreign policy issue or other issues, I think our traditional conservative values ​​have a place in this marketplace of ideas and should be promoted.”