Republican Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado announced this week she will not resign from her current seat in the House to run for a special election in the seat she’s seeking in November’s general election.
This week, Republican Representative Ken Buck of Colorado’s 4th District said he’d be speeding up his retirement, leaving Congress the end of this week instead of serving out the remainder of his term. Buck had already announced that he wouldn’t be seeking reelection in the fall.
Boebert, who currently represents the states 3rd Congressional District, has already filed to run for the general election in November for the state’s 4th Congressional District. In other words, she’s abandoning her current seat — that covers much of the southern part of the state and the Western Slope — and is running to fill the seat that Buck won’t be seeking reelection for.
Boebert, who barely won reelection in 2022, would’ve faced a very tough reelection campaign in the 3rd District, which is much more moderate than other parts of the state. Buck’s 4th District, meanwhile, is much more staunchly conservative.
That’s why Boebert decided to switch districts — so she’d have an easier path to return to the House following November’s elections.
With Buck leaving Congress much earlier than expected, a special election will be held in Colorado this summer to fill the remainder of his term. And despite the possibility that this special election could make it tougher for Boebert to be elected to the seat come November, she announced she would not be running in the special election.
To do so, she would have to resign from her current seat in the House.
This week, Boebert called Buck’s decision to leave Congress early “weak sauce.” She spoke to media outlet The Hill about whether she’d run in the special election, saying:
“I’m not leaving my constituents in the 3rd district.”
Boebert added that she still plans to run in the primary for the House seat in the 4th district, which will be held in June. If she were to win that primary, she’d advance to November’s general election, hoping to win another two-year term in Congress.
In a statement that her campaign released this week, Boebert criticized Buck. She said:
“Ken Buck’s announcement yesterday was a gift to the Uniparty. The establishment concocted a swampy backroom deal to try to rig an election I’m winning by 25 points. Forcing an unnecessary Special Election on the same day as the Primary Election will confuse voters, result in a lame duck Congressman from day one, and leave the 4th District with no representation for more than three months. The 4th District deserves better.”
In the announcement, she also touted the fact that she’s the “only Trump-endorsed, America First candidate in this race.”
The special election isn’t good news for Boebert. Whatever Republican is chosen to enter it will be in a better position to win the GOP primary for the 4th District, since voters weigh in on both of those races at the same election.
