State House Minority Leader Mike Lynch, a Republican candidate in Colorado’s open 4th Congressional District, was arrested in 2022 on suspicion of drunken driving and being in possession of a gun while intoxicated, law enforcement records show.

The Wellington lawmaker is one of 11 Republicans running for the seat held by retiring U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, a Windsor Republican serving his fifth term. The crowded primary field also includes U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, who announced in late December that she will run this year in the heavily Republican 4th CD rather than seek reelection in the more competitive district she represents.

Lynch, serving his second term, was elected to lead House Republicans about six weeks after the arrest, following the unexpected death of Loveland Republican Hugh McKean, who had been the chamber’s minority leader.

Charged with driving under the influence, speeding and prohibited use of a weapon, Lynch pleaded guilty in December 2022 to the misdemeanor firearms charge and driving while ability impaired, a lesser offense, according to court records released by Lynch.

Under the terms of his sentencing, Lynch was required to complete 150 hours of community service and 15 months of probation, which ends in June. A spokesman for Lynch’s campaign said he expects to complete the required community service within the next month or so.

The state lawmaker was also ordered to forfeit his gun and attend a firearms safety class. He is forbidden from possessing firearms for the duration of his sentence.

According to arrest records first reported on Wednesday by The Denver Post, Lynch was driving an electric Mustang Mach E northbound on Interstate 25 in Larimer County, north of Fort Collins, on Sept. 30, 2022, when a Colorado State Patrol trooper pulled him over at about 9:15 p.m. for going 90 mph in a 75 mph zone. After smelling “the strong odor of an unknown alcoholic beverage,” the trooper administered roadside sobriety tests and a breath test, which determined Lynch had a blood alcohol content of 0.165 – more than twice the legal limit of 0.08.

During the stop, according to an incident report, Lynch told the trooper he was in a hurry to get home after attending a fundraiser in Fort Collins and said he’d had one beer and “a sip of a margarita.” While he was attempting to secure a pocket knife in one of Lynch’s pockets, the trooper said Lynch told him he had a gun in his other pocket and reached to pull it out.

“For a moment, I was certain Mr. Lynch was either purposefully pulling the gun out of his pocket, or was so intoxicated that he did not realize what he was doing,” the trooper wrote. “I feared for my safety as Mr. Lynch manipulated a firearm, after I had clearly told him not to touch the knife in his other pocket.”

The trooper said Lynch then told him he was a supporter of law enforcement and “fought for ‘us.'” Lynch then said he had a “little .380” in his pocket, adding that “it’s not a big deal.”

“I informed him that pulling a gun out of our pocket when in contact with the police was, in fact, a big deal, and people get shot that way,” the trooper said in the report.

After the trooper asked Lynch if he would participate in voluntary roadside sobriety tests, Lynch asked the officer to contact “Mike Honn,” explaining that Honn, the State Patrol’s legislative liaison at the state Capitol, was a captain on the patrol. Lynch then mentioned he was the state representative for the district where the stop took place.

A campaign spokesman told Colorado Politics that Lynch wasn’t asking for any kind of special treatment but was following protocol by asking the trooper to notify Honn about the incident, since the State Patrol is in charge of protecting state lawmakers.

One of Lynch’s primary rivals, House Minority Whip Richard Holtorf, an Akron Republican, said he first learned of Lynch’s arrest in news reports on Wednesday.

“I think this is a surprise to everybody, including the caucus,” Holtorf said. “This information is a surprise and shock to everybody. Nobody knew about this at any time in 2022. This information was well protected until now.”

Holtorf said that knowledge of Lynch’s arrest could have influenced the caucus’s decision if the lawmaker had disclosed it prior to the House GOP’s leadership election in November 2022.

“I think there’s a lot of people that would have looked at that and say hmm,” Holtorf said. “If you get a DUI in the military, your career ends – you’ll never get another promotion, and you’ll be asked to leave whenever your period of service ends. If you use the same standard – it’s not good.”

Holtorf, a retired Army combat veteran, added that he didn’t anticipate House Republicans would take any action at this point.

“I don’t want to judge,” he said. “We’ve got a session. We don’t need turbulence in our leadership team, we need to focus. I would not advocate for any changes at this point, but it’s not a good look for our party, it’s not a good look or our team. We’ll have to work through it, as a team.”

In recent years, a handful of other state lawmakers have also faced drunken driving charges. Former state Rep. Matt Gray, a Broomfield Democrat, pleaded guilty to DWAI after being arrested near the end of the 2022 legislative session and later decided against seeking reelection. Former state Rep. Dan Pabon, a Denver Democrat, pleaded guilty in 2016 to driving drunk earlier that year on the night of St. Patrick’s Day. He stepped down as House speaker pro tem and dropped a planned run for a state Senate seat.