Rep. Ken Buck announced on Tuesday, March 12, that he will resign before his term ends. The resignation of Buck, who is a Republican who represents Colorado's reliably red 4th Congressional District, has narrowed down the GOP's majority in the chamber.
Buck announced that his resignation will be effective on March 22. He previously announced he had planned not to seek reelection at the end of his term, ending in November this year.
‘It has been an honor to serve the people of Colorado's 4th District’
"It has been an honor to serve the people of Colorado's 4th District in Congress for the past 9 years. I want to thank them for their support and encouragement throughout the years. Today, I am announcing that I will depart Congress at the end of next week. I look forward to staying involved in our political process, as well as spending more time in Colorado and with my family," he said, according to CBS News.
Why did Rep. Ken Buck decide to resign?
Buck spoke to reporters at the Capitol, saying he decided to leave because of dysfunction in Congress and increasing political polarisation. He cited the impeachment probe against Joe Biden and the House vote to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
{{/usCountry}}Buck spoke to reporters at the Capitol, saying he decided to leave because of dysfunction in Congress and increasing political polarisation. He cited the impeachment probe against Joe Biden and the House vote to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas.
{{/usCountry}}"I voted against the impeachment of Mayorkas and made it plain and simple that I don't think that the impeachment of Biden is appropriate," he said. "And so [House Speaker] Mike Johnson's ability to talk me into staying here, is going to be about as successful as his ability to talking me into unconstitutional impeachments."
Buck earlier said on CNN that his recent experience in Congress has been filled with several issues. "It is the worst year of the nine years and three months that I've been in Congress,” he said.