When I ran for Congress back in 2008, Colorado was considered one of the most important “swing states,” in the U.S. Our Electoral College votes might swing either way, making us a purple state to be sure. That characterization was, in fact, quite important in my decision to run, in that I posited if the state was going to be close, and that meant that the national ticket of Barack Obama and Joe Biden would be here often, as opposed, say, to running in deep-red Oklahoma or deep-blue California. In such a setting, perhaps I could just edge through a tight election against my GOP opponent.

Not so much, as it turns out.

Regardless, I did end up going to events with Obama and got to meet him. In addition to being introduced to the future president, I got to meet and talk with Michelle Obama and Joe Biden. I still got pounded in the general, of course, as I live in deep red CD5, but Colorado went blue, and we got two great terms from former President Obama and now one (so far) from President Biden.

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Two years later, I found myself the chair of the El Paso County Democratic Party (please, dear friends, even if you are far-right and love The Donald, please don’t sin against grammar and call it the “Democrat” Party. Do that, and I won’t call you all part of the “Republic” Party). Now, the Colorado Springs area is considered, or at least was at that time, a stronghold of GOP voters. But what often got missed by some statewide candidates was El Paso County was also home to the largest number of Democrats outside of Boulder/Denver, with more than 83,000 of them, myself included. The math meant if a Democrat could get 38%  to 42% of the vote in El Paso County, they generally win statewide.

One person who got it was U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, who, in 2010, found himself running against a GOPer named Ken Buck. In that campaign I found (in general) Buck to be likable though of course I differed with him on the issues. Bennet would make 26 different visits to my county, and I’m quite sure it was the votes he earned here that let him win a very close election over Buck. Oh, and that led to my working for Bennet for four years.

I’ve kept up on Buck over the years, because, unlike so many in Trump World, Buck often sided with, well, honesty and common sense. For example, back in 2023 (last year seems *so* long ago, eh?) U.S. Rep. Buck opposed the ongoing nonsensical politicalization of the House when he opposed then-Speaker McCarthy’s effort to impeach President Biden. Buck went so far as to call the so-called evidence against Hunter Biden as “fictitious facts,” and “imagined history.” And history has proven Buck correct, in that the supposed key witness against the Bidens has admitted the stuff he said about Hunter was made up, at least in part from fake news provided to him by a Russian agent. Remember when the Republicans were anti Russia?

Buck has stood above such silliness and has consistently done what he thought was right for the country. I differ on much of that, but I applaud his refusal to kiss Trump’s ring and to swear allegiance.

And so, of course, Buck is leaving Congress. Sigh.

Back on Nov. 1 of last year, Buck announced he would not seek a sixth term in the House. Ten years is enough for him, as he is fed up with the radical politics of his own party. Buck announced his decision in a 3-minute video, wherein he decried his fellow Republicans for being “obsessively fixated on retribution and vengeance for contrived injustices of the past.” That is damning enough, but Buck continued, “Too many Republican leaders are lying to America, claiming that the 2020 election was stolen, describing January 6 as an unguided tour of the Capitol and asserting that the ensuing prosecutions are a weaponization of our justice system. Our nation is on a collision course with reality, and a steadfast commitment to truth – even uncomfortable truths – is the only way forward (italics mine).”

Wow.

I’m sure it is easier to make such bold statements when you are on the way out, but regardless, that is quite a damnation of the GOP of today. I applaud Buck’s guts.

And just recently, Buck made GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson’s life even more difficult, when he announced he wasn’t even going to stick around to the end of his term in January. No, he is out of Congress at the end of next week. How outraged and fed up must one be to resign from Congress early?

So, Speaker Johnson now has to hold the GOP in the House together with an even tinier majority of just a couple of seats while making sure the party’s true nut-jobs, Georgia U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Colorado’s own U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert, don’t introduce yet another motion to unseat the speaker, as they did with McCarthy. Buck, who is apparently bound by honor and honesty (for the most part), couldn’t stomach it anymore.

His resignation will result in a special election to fill out the last couple of months of Buck’s term, but Boebert, who recently packed her carpetbag and moved into Buck’s district in hopes of winning there, won’t run in the special election. This saves, apparently, her energy for the November battle. As you likely know, she came to understand she likely would lose in her old CD3. The field in CD4 is a clown car, seeking to be the farthest to the right and to see who can bow down the closest to Trump’s, well, let’s just say ring finger. Boebert hopes people will ignore her various antics (to say nothing of behaviors in a theater) and will replace Ken Buck with her.

Frankly, I’m not sure how important the special election will be, but whoever wins will be able to claim, albeit only a little, the incumbent’s advantages. I’ll predict right now Boebert will lose the primary and will be, thankfully, out of Congress come next January.

But so will Ken Buck, and that’s a pity. If I must have a Republican, I want a Ken Buck. Perhaps the GOP will return to sanity after Trump heads off to jail, but that’s very hard to imagine in today’s political climate.

Stay tuned…

Hal Bidlack is a retired professor of political science and a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who taught more than 17 years at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.