U.S. Rep. Ken Buck's (R-CO) replacement has been chosen.
Business Insider reports that Colorado Republicans have chosen Greg Lopez to serve out the remainder of Buck's congressional term.
This all comes after Buck, a couple of weeks ago, announced that he had decided to prematurely retire from the U.S. House of Representatives - some 8 months before his term would have ended.
In the process, Buck broke the vow that he made last year to remain in the House until the end of his term.
Buck recently explained why it is that he decided to move up his retirement date. The answer seems to be that he could not wait to get started on his next job - which, at the time of this writing, remains unknown.
"Part of it takes fundraising, and I can't raise funds for outside groups if I'm in Congress. Part of it involves speaking at times when I would be required to be here to vote," Buck said.
He added, "So, it's something where I need to focus a lot of my attention in order to make a difference. And really if it doesn't happen until after November people aren't going to be paying attention for the next few years so this is really the sweet spot in terms of getting involved."
The other side of the story is that Buck has lost significant popularity recently with Republicans. The Hill reports that Buck had "become known for breaking from his party on various issues and criticizing Republicans on election denialism."
Suffice it to say that Buck's days in Congress were probably coming to an end, no matter what.
On Thursday, a panel of Colorado Republicans selected the candidate to represent Colorado's fourth congressional district for the remainder of Buck's term. The committee gave the nod to Lopez.
This is a big win for another House Republican - U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO).
She is running for Buck's seat in the next election, and there was concern that Colorado Republicans would pick a candidate who would challenge Boebert in the race.
Lopez, however, will not do so. Business Insider reports:
Lopez, the one-time mayor of Parker, Colorado, and a twice-failed GOP gubernatorial candidate, has pledged to serve only the remaining six months of Buck's term. In other words, he won't run against Boebert in the ongoing GOP primary to represent Colorado's 4th congressional district for a full term.
Boebert, on Friday morning, congratulated Lopez on the win.
