Rep. Ken Buck won’t seek reelection, citing GOP ‘narrative’ on Jan. 6

Freedom Caucus member Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) announced Wednesday he will not be seeking reelection in 2024 due to the House Republicans’ insistence that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and their “Jan. 6 narrative.” He also predicted other Republican lawmakers will follow in his footsteps.

“I have decided, Andrea, I’m not going to seek reelection,” he said on MSNBC.

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“I am joining Kay and probably some others in the near future,” he added, referring to House Appropriations Chairwoman Kay Granger’s (R-TX) decision not to run in 2024, also announced Wednesday. Granger notably didn’t mention the 2020 election or Jan. 6 in her brief statement, but Buck’s announcement suggests she may have been prompted by those issues.

Buck said, “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 rely on this lie that the 2020 election was stolen and rely on the Jan. 6 narrative and the political prisoners from Jan. 6 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,” he added.

Buck is a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus and hails from a solidly Republican district. However, Buck did not support Rep. Jim Jordan’s (R-OH) bid for the speakership last month, despite their common caucus membership. “I’m concerned about the inability to acknowledge that Joe Biden won the election and the activities surrounding Jan. 6,” he said of Jordan’s campaign for speaker at the time.

Following Jordan’s failed bid, Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) launched his own campaign but was ultimately sunk by former President Donald Trump’s disapproval. Emmer, along with Buck, had voted to certify the election in 2021, confirming President Joe Biden’s win.

“Tom and I both voted to certify the electors,” Buck told MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell. “It was a decision that I think was the right decision under the Constitution.”

He pointed out that, conversely, Speaker “Mike [Johnson] went to the Supreme Court with a challenge to the election.”

And while Buck didn’t agree with this, he noted that the events of Jan. 6 were something different from that entirely. “I think going to the courts is one thing. Trying to move the mob from the mall up to the House floor and interrupting the congressional proceeding — a whole different issue,” he said.

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While Buck is leaving Congress, he will remain in the Republican Party, he said. “I’m not going to be leaving my role in trying to talk truth to the public,” he added.

Of the 2024 election, in which he hasn’t made an endorsement, he said, “I think this election is going to be a critical election, both at the presidential level and in the House. I think people in the House are going to have to make a decision on where they want to go with the values of the Republican Party.”