Member of ‘hateful eight’ who booted out Kevin McCarthy announces he WON’T run for re-election: Ken Buck reveals he is stepping down from Congress with speculation he is eyeing a job at CNN
- “I have always been disappointed with our inability in Congress to tackle big issues,” Buck said
- I am also disappointed that the Republican Party continues to rely on the lie that the 2020 election was stolen.
Republican Ken Buck of Colorado will not seek re-election next year because of election denial within his party.
“I’ve decided it’s time to do some other things,” he told NBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Wednesday.
Buck, 64 and in his fifth term in Congress, said his differences with the Republican Party had become too great and that his party had been reluctant to confront difficult issues.
“I have always been disappointed with our inability in Congress to tackle major issues, and I am also disappointed that the Republican Party continues to rely on the lie that the 2020 election was stolen and the story of January 6 and political prisoners of January 6 and other things.’
In Buck’s 2022 election, he won handily with 60.9 percent of the vote.
Buck, one of eight Republicans who voted with Democrats to impeach Kevin McCarthy, was perhaps the group’s biggest wild card.
Republican Ken Buck of Colorado will not seek re-election next year because of election denial within his party
He opposed the impeachment inquiry into President Biden as “theatre” and voted against speaker candidates who would not say the 2020 election was legitimate.
The Colorado Republican said he believed McCarthy had not kept his promises to cut spending and new oversight of federal agencies and their budgets.
His announcement followed that of Appropriations Chairman Kay Granger, who revealed Wednesday that she will not seek re-election. She is the longest-serving Republican member of Congress, since taking office in 1996.
Her Fort Worth district will likely remain in Republican hands, and if they retain the majority, some members will vie for the chairmanship of her powerful committee. She was a leading opponent of Jim Jordan’s bid for speaker.
Last week, Rep. Debbie Lesko, R-Ariz., said she would retire in 2024 to spend more time with her family.
“I’ve decided it’s time to do some other things,” he told NBC’s Andrea Mitchell on Wednesday
Other Republicans could follow suit, wondering whether the frenzied, three-week-without-speakers, and free-for-all nature of the conference will have an electoral backlash.
Republicans have struggled to push through must-pass legislation, and even some party-line bills on appropriations. The House of Representatives has pushed through a continuing resolution to fund the government through Nov. 17, but will have to pass a spending bill at that point to refinance the government or risk a shutdown.
Buck’s media profile has grown as an iconoclast conservative who is not afraid to criticize his colleagues on TV. He is a budget hawk who supports aid to Ukraine and was one of only two members of the Freedom Caucus who voted to affirm Joe Biden’s victory.
Buck told the New York Post in September that he was exploring options to work for a major news network as an analyst or contributor.
“I’m interested in talking to people from CNN and other news organizations — I don’t want to call them left-wing, but sort of center-left — and having the opportunity to do that full-time or as a contributor would be great, too,” Buck said , later adding that he would also be interested in Fox News or News Max.