Rep. Buck Resigns Prematurely

The Republican majority is disappearing

Photo Credit: Getty: Anna Moneymaker; Karl Gehring; Win McNamee

Ken Buck has had enough of the vile state of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. 

Like many other Republicans in the House, Buck is starting to realize that there’s a better-than-even chance his party is going to be in the minority as of January 2025, which is no fun at all. But when the agenda is constantly being held hostage by the likes of Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene, even being in the majority is a brutal grind. 

“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,” said Buck.

I don’t want to pretend that Buck is a good guy. Not only did he vote to oust Kevin McCarthy, but after promising not to vote for an election denier, he backed Mike Johnson. So, he has a least some responsibility for the massive dysfunction that has characterized the House ever since Republicans took over the majority in 2022. 

Even so, his leaving congress is 1) bad for his party and 2) really bad for Mike Johnson and Lauren Boebert. So let’s call it a win-win.

Let’s break down just how much this hurts the GOP.

Buck might have just ended Lauren Boebert’s career in Congress. After facing stiff competition from Democrat Adam Frisch in her own 3rd district – she barely got only 554 votes more than Frisch in 2022, and polls showed her losing a November rematch – Lauren Boebert announced she would leave the 3rd district, and instead run for Ken Buck’s seat in the 4th Congressional district, after Buck said he’d retire at the end of this term. 

But Buck threw a wrench in Boebert’s plans: instead of leaving Congress at the end of the term, he’s leaving next week.

Here’s why that’s bad for Boebert, in particular, and House Republicans in general (stay with me): 

Since Buck is retiring before the end of the term, a special election now must be held in order to fill his seat. It takes place on the same day as the Republican primary, June 25.

In order for Boebert to run in the special election, she would have to resign from her current seat, something she said today that she’s decided against.

That means another Republican must occupy Buck’s 4th-district seat for the remaining six months of Buck’s term via the special election. To make the situation more confusing, Boebert will be running in the Republican primary for the 4th-district seat. 

Per the Times, it means that “she needs to convince Republican voters in her newly-adopted district to vote for one Republican in the special election against a Democrat, while simultaneously voting for her in the primary…” all on the same day.

Good luck with that. 

Boebert even admitted the challenge herself today, saying, “This has a lot of potential to confuse voters, which is problematic.”

Ken Buck complained, “This place has just devolved into this bickering and nonsense and not really doing the job for the American people.”

In case you were wondering who he is talking about, you might want to look at how he left. According to Newsweek, when reporters asked about Buck’s announcement he admitted, “I did not know.”

Buck didn’t even tell the Republican Speaker of the House that he was leaving.

Caesar would like a word.

Mike Johnson, credit Alex Wong

What makes this worse for Johnshon in the short term is that he has even less control of the House. Right now his majority – 218 to 213 – is razor thin. This makes passing legislation extremely dangerous to a man whose Speakership is subject to the same motion to vacate that made it so easy to torpedo Kevin McCarthy.

Sadly for Johnson, and happily for us, that’s not the end of it:

As Buck is ready to exit stage right, he’s hinted that Republicans may be facing a mass exodus.

“I think it's the next three people that leave that they're going to be worried about,” Buck said.

Republicans have already amply demonstrated to the country that, not only are they uninterested in governing, they are incapable of governing. With more representatives abandoning ship, their incompetence will be on full display at the height of the 2024 election. 

Republican lawmakers are already panicking:

Mike Kelly (R-PA) revealed that he was “concerned about the majority.”

Rep. Steve Womack (R-AK), admitted Buck’s departure "lowers the margin and that creates an obvious challenge for leadership.”

There is nothing to mourn over here – the implosion of the Republican Party is not only a good thing for the future of this country, it is a necessary thing. In the meantime, however, their failure to legislate has serious implications.

The one person who will experience the most fallout from this latest House debacle is Donald.

Each time a Republican like Ken Buck resigns or retires in protest, it shines a bright light on the fact that Republican leadership is willing to hurt the American people – by scuttling their own bi-partisan border deal or their cynical unwillingness to fund support for Ukraine in the hopes that Russia will help Donald steal another election. 

Swing voters and independents will take notice. Imagine what Joe Biden could do in his second term if Democrats retake the majority in the House? 🥂

Once we’ve eliminated the fascists who keep trying to turn back the clock on our progress, we can go about the business of strengthening our democracy.