Republican suddenly leaving House says 2024 “worst year” to be in Congress

Republican Representative Ken Buck declared that 2024 is the “worst year” to serve in Congress in half a century after announcing his abrupt departure from the House.

Buck announced last year that he would not be running for reelection but suggested that he would be serving out his term. He said in a statement on Tuesday that he plans to leave Congress at the end of next week. The Colorado congressman said that he planned to spend more time at home with his family and would be “staying involved in our political process.”

Republicans were left scrambling after news of Buck’s sudden exit emerged, with House Speaker Mike Johnson apparently being unaware of the decision despite a voicemail that was sent to his office as a “heads up” 30 minutes before the statement was released. The move will whittle down an already slim GOP House majority to a 218-213 advantage.

Buck, who has become increasingly at odds with MAGA Republicans over his criticism of former President Donald Trump, said during an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash shortly after his announcement that “a lot of” what he deals with in the House comes down to “personal” politics, concluding that the chamber had become a wasteland of “bickering and nonsense.”

The retiring congressman said that he planned to “find the right organization to join” and begin lobbying to change election laws and select “better candidates up and down the ballot.” He suggested that Congress had reached its lowest point in generations.

“Instead of having decorum, instead of operating in a professional manner, this place has just devolved into this bickering and nonsense,” Buck said, before insisting that his move had nothing to do with Trump becoming the presumptive GOP nominee for president.

“Whether he was the nominee or not, I think our system is broken,” Buck said. “It is the worst year of the nine years and three months that I’ve been in Congress. And having talked to former members, it’s the worst year in 40 or 50 years to be in Congress.

“But I’m leaving because I think there’s a job to do out there that I want to go do,” he added.

Newsweek reached out for comment to Johnson’s office via email on Tuesday night.

Buck’s seat will be up for grabs in a special election set for June 25. Although he declined to tell Bash who he would prefer to fill the seat, his quick exit could have a major impact on MAGA Republican Congresswoman Lauren Boebert’s quest to replace him in Colorado’s deep-red 4th Congressional District.

Boebert, who won reelection to Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District in 2022 by a surprisingly small margin over Democrat Adam Frisch, announced late last year that she would by vying for Buck’s old seat in 2024 over concerns about electability in her current district.

The sudden special election creates a scenario in which Boebert will have to decide whether she will resign her current position, creating a vacancy that would need to be filled with a special election in the 3rd District, or potentially face off against an incumbent interim representative in November.

Buck also delivered a small parting shot to Trump on the day that he announced his departure, telling Bash that voters were equally “not happy with” Trump and President Joe Biden “everywhere” he visits in Colorado.