Rep. Lauren Boebert won’t run in Colorado special election to finish Rep. Ken Buck’s term

Colorado will have a special election in June to fill the seat currently occupied by Republican Rep. Ken Buck, and Rep. Lauren Boebert says she won’t be one of the candidates. Buck announced this week that he will resign next week as Colorado’s 4th Congressional District representative in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Boebert announced on Wednesday that she will not be a candidate in the special election because she plans to serve out the end of her current term in Congress. Boebert is a Republican congresswoman who represents Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, but she is running to replace Buck in CD4 in November’s general election.

From March 22 when Buck leaves Congress until late June, Buck’s seat in Congress will be empty. The special election that Gov. Jared Polis ordered will be held on June 25, coinciding with Colorado’s primary elections for House races. It will result in a representative to serve in Congress and represent CD3 through the remainder of what would have been his term. 

“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 who have made clear they are hungry for a real conservative,” Boebert said in a prepared statement in which she criticized Buck’s decision to leave office.

Boebert brought up the fact that Buck’s decision will result in Congressman or Congresswoman who is elected being a “lame duck… on day one” because they will only serve in the role for less than a year, unless they also run for the seat in November’s general election and win.

Colorado has only had one other special election like this in recent memory. That was when Rep. Jack Swigert was elected, then died, and voters in Congressional District 6 elected Rep. Daniel Schaefer to serve out his term.