Rep. Lauren Boebert has no plans to resign from her current House seat to run in a special election triggered by the recent surprise resignation of Rep. Ken Buck in her new district.
Ms. Boebert, Colorado Republican, currently represents the state’s 3rd Congressional District but announced in December she would run in the 4th Congressional District that is represented by Mr. Buck.
Mr. Buck, a Republican, announced he is quitting Congress at the end of the week.
Ms. Boebert called Mr. Buck’s Tuesday announcement to leave Congress before he finished his term next January a “gift to the uniparty,” a derogatory term for establishment Republicans who compromise with Democrats.
Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, scheduled the special election and congressional primary to happen on the same day, June 25.
Colorado’s Democratic and Republican parties are expected to gather vacancy committees over the next several weeks to choose their respective candidates to replace Mr. Buck for the remainder of his term.
Those who are not affiliated with either party can gather petition signatures to get on the ballot. At that point, 4th District voters would pick Mr. Buck’s temporary replacement and also the Democratic and Republican candidates to run for the seat in November.
If Ms. Boebert had chosen to participate in the special election, she would have been forced to resign from her current seat.
“The establishment concocted a swampy backroom deal to try to rig an election I’m winning by 25 points,” Ms. Boebert said. “Forcing an unnecessary special election on the same day as the primary election will confuse voters, result in a lame duck congressman on day one, and leave the 4th District with no representation for more than three months.
“The 4th District deserves better. I will not further imperil the already very slim House Republican majority by resigning my current seat and will continue to deliver on my constituents’ priorities while also working hard to earn the votes of the people of Colorado’s 4th District.”
In a previous statement, Mr. Polis said he decided to hold both elections on the same day to minimize taxpayer costs.
Among the nine GOP candidates running in the primary, Ms. Boebert is the only one endorsed by former President Donald Trump.
Mr. Buck blamed dysfunction in Congress for his decision to leave early. He previously announced he would retire at the end of the year.
“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. But I’m leaving because I think there’s a job to do out there,” he said on CNN. “This place has just devolved into this bickering and nonsense and not really doing the job for the American people,” he said.
Mr. Buck’s decision to leave before his term ends of his term will cut the GOP’s slim majority to 218 seats. Republicans can now lose just two votes to pass legislation on party-line votes.
Democrats currently hold 213 seats in the House, where there also are three vacancies.
The party breakdown will change slightly next week when Tuesday’s special election in California’s 20th Congressional District will fill the seat previously held by former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, a Republican.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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