UPDATE #2: Here’s the final Buckpedal:
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UPDATE: Via The New York Times:
“We lost our way,” said Mr. Buck, 64, who announced his intentions in interviews and a video news release. “We have an identity crisis in the Republican Party. If we can’t address the election denier issue and we continue down that path, we won’t have credibility with the American people that we are going to solve problems.”
His announcement followed one earlier Wednesday by Representative Kay Granger, Republican of Texas and chair of the Appropriations Committee, who said she also would not run again next year. She too played a prominent role in the speaker showdown. Others are likely to follow suit given the chaos that has engulfed the Republican-led House.
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As NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell reports, Congressman Ken Buck (R-Greeley) will not seek re-election in 2024:
“I’ve decided that it is time for me to do some other things. I always have been disappointed with our inability in Congress to deal with major issues and I’m also disappointed that the Republican Party continues to, you know, rely on this lie that the 2020 election was stolen and rely on the January 6th narrative and the political prisoners from January 6th and other things. If we’re going to solve difficult problems, we’ve got to deal with some very unpleasant truths or lies and make sure we project to the public what the truth is.”
“KenSNBC” even made the announcement on…MSNBC. Buck’s retirement is a development we’ve been anticipating for months. We’ll get to what comes next in a later post, but rest assured that Colorado’s 2024 election cycle just got a lot more interesting. The Colorado Republican Party is certainly excited — so excited, in fact, that they didn’t bother to say goodbye to Buck first:
And remember, once again: You heard it here first.
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Good riddance. Now, it's time for the crazy train in CD4, unfortunately.
Maybe Cory Gardner will try to reclaim the seat.
Crazy in CD4 should be good news in CD3 and CD8 as it's bound to draw Republicans all over the state to the right.
More importantly, that loud sucking sound you hear are MAGA GOP dollars moving out of CO-3 and CO-8 into CO-4 primary campaigns.
Greg Brophy, your 15 minutes of Warholian fame have arrived.
So, did he get the gig at CNN?
"Alwois look on the Broight Side of Life."
Tu-doot, tu-doot, tu-doot.
Man, oh man, what a crazypants shitshow that's gonna be.
Remember when we thought Cory was bad, then Ken was worse? Well, hold onto your hats because the next one is going to be full blown loony.
Really sucks that we gave away CD4 to the crazies and there is no competition for the seat. I blame the redistricting for much of this. There should be no “safe” seats in Colorado.
MUSGRAVE '24
Stop the sheep from marrying!
If anything, the congressional districts unduly favor the GOP here in Colorado. If CD8 were held by a Republican, the GOP gets half the seats in a state where voters favor the Democrats by a double-digit margin. I know gerrymandering plays a role here but states like Ohio or Texas that favor the GOP in comparable margins, Dems tend to hold much less than half of the seats despite their voting share. Yet in Colorado, they are given a chance to over-represent half of the state in the federal level despite actually representing a small fraction of the state’s overall population. Even the state house and senate districts (mainly the latter) give the GOP an unfair shot at having heavy influence and possibly control (even if practically unlikely) of a chamber in a solid blue state.
There should honestly be no more than two safe Republican CD seats in the state considering the political orientation of the state. As for the legislature, in our quest to be “fair” and “unbiased” we have actually made it unfair by giving the small minority GOP unearned access to significantly influence a state that heavily doesn’t favor them and have refused to adapt to and understand the views and policies most voters actually want.
Thanks to Lauren Boebert’s efforts, there soon may only be two Republican seats in Colorado.
Of course, after Adam Frisch sends her back to her Florida panhandle trailer park, the district will probably revert to a sane Republican in 2026.
I agree with your point that Colorado should only have two safe GOP seats but unfortunately, we threw away the opportunity that the legislatures in Texas, North Carolina, Ohio, and Illinois enjoy to gerrymander the hell out of the state when we established the so-called independent redistricting commission.
The independent commission idea is a great idea if everyone did it nationwide. But until that happens, we should not have unilaterally disarmed ourselves.
True. I’m hopeful about CD3 though, it’s not as Republican as it used to be. Polis won the district in 2022 even if narrowly for example. In a few years, I don’t see why the district won’t be swinging at the minimum. When that happens, that’ll be a bit more fair though still slanted.
As for independent redistricting commissions, I want all states to have this as well. Still, the commission should been composed of 4 Independents, 3 Democrats, and 2 Republicans. Yet we even had a far-right election-denier in the commission in the form of failed lieutenant Governor candidate Danny Moore. It’s clear that Colorado is far too lenient towards the GOP and the far-right.
Back to independent commissions, it’s mostly blue states that have this right now and look at what this has done, given Republicans wins while red states make sure Dems don’t win even in areas where they should be. Just take a look at how much Republicans represent a district Biden won compared to Democrats that hold seats in districts Trump won back in 2020. All a result of trying to be “fair” in a game where the other side doesn’t play by the same rules.
We really are bringing a knife to a assault rifle battle. Yet Republicans cry persecution and bitch about being silenced even though their opponents are literally making sure they get to represent 10 people in the same footing as someone that represents thousands (I’m slightly exaggerating but you get the point).
Another Buckpedal: "I’m also disappointed that the Republican Party continues to, you know, rely on this lie that the 2020 election was stolen…."
So why did you vote to make election denier Mike Johnson Speaker of the House?
The hypocrisy, it burns, it burns.
My theory: it became clear that House Republicans were never going to allow a vote for a bipartisan Speaker. Given that, Buck and others (Granger?) preferred to at least have a functional House, and that required someone as Speaker. It wasn't Jordan, so Johnson passed.
Why are they quitting instead of fighting?
Because once he started fighting, he knew he was going to be primaried out. The base is MAGA-crazy; they aren't with him (or Kinzinger, or Cheney, or anyone else who fails the MAGA purity test.)
Ken Buck – he almost did the right thing, once…