House Speaker Mike Johnson had no idea Representative Ken Buck is quitting, as the GOP is in complete shambles.

House Speaker Mike Johnson had no idea Representative Ken Buck is quitting, as the GOP is in complete shambles.

Representative Ken Buck took to social media to announce his near-immediate leave from Congress, resigning so fast that even his party leaders were caught off guard by the decision.

“Today, I am announcing that I will depart Congress at the end of next week,” Buck said in a statement on Tuesday. “I look forward to staying involved in our political process, as well as spending more time in Colorado with my family.”

The less-than-two-weeks notice took practically everybody by surprise, including (or maybe especially) House Speaker Mike Johnson.

“I was surprised by Ken’s announcement,” Johnson told a crush of reporters inside the Capitol building. “I look forward to talking to him about that.”

“I didn’t know,” he added.

  • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
    21·
    9 months ago

    My guess is that he sees a massive loss for the GOP coming up and figured it was smarted to leave now then get crushed in the landslide.

    Of course, it could be something completely outside politics, but I know how I’d bet.

    • 1stTime4MeInMCU@mander.xyzEnglish
      7·
      9 months ago

      He already announced a while back he wasn’t running for re-election, but who knows maybe he just didn’t see the point to keep going.

      • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
        3·
        9 months ago

        A quick search tells me that a Congressional seat can remain vacant for up to six months because there has to be an election. The Governor of a State appoints a new Senator if the current one resigns. It’s nine months until November. I don’t know what his plan was, but he’s created quite the pickle for the rest of the local power structure.

        • 1stTime4MeInMCU@mander.xyzEnglish
          5·
          9 months ago

          Governor called a special election to coincide with the date of the primary in June. So the parties will pick two candidates and then CO-4 will pick a house rep for 6 months and then another election for a full term in November. The real question is if it means bobo the clown will leave her current seat to run which would mean two special elections. But first the party has to nominate her

          • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
            11·
            9 months ago

            Silly me. I assumed it was a Super Tuesday state that had already had their primary.

            To me, it sounds like the one who resigned is doing some real fancy footwork behind the scenes. If he’d already said he was stepping down he almost certainly had a successor in mind.

            If you enjoy pure nut cutting politics, may I introduce you to Washington reporter turned crime novelist Ross Thomas. “The Fools In Town Are On Our Side” is about a disgraced CIA operative who is hire to make a small Southern city so corrupt that “even the pimps will vote for reform.”

            “The Porkchoppers” is about a Nixon Era union election. It has characters ranging from Mafia hit men to sleazy political operators to White House consultants.

            • 1stTime4MeInMCU@mander.xyzEnglish
              3·
              8 months ago

              Are you a bot lol. Colorado is weird but it votes for president primary during Super Tuesday but other positions have their primary in June. I do think Ken buck resigned to make it as inconvenient as possible for boebert. The party gets to pick the candidate for the primary, and she has to resign to run. They could manipulate her into resigning and not pick her to run lol I do feel like he is intentionally trying to sabotage her

              • Dagwood222@lemm.ee
                11·
                8 months ago

                I’d like to chat with some Rocky Mountain State political junkies about the whole Bobo vs. Buck deal.

                Even if I were a hard core Tea Party MAGoo I’d be ashamed of Bobo’s antics, and would want her out.

    • GBU_28@lemm.eeEnglish
      2·
      9 months ago

      In general totally agree. That particular quote is odd however. Probably there to pique interest with folks just as it did me.

      Edit I’m a fucking idiot guy.i replied to wrote “(paraphrasing)”