His reasoning: "Too many Republican leaders are lying to America."
The former Colorado Republican Party chair announced the move on X, formerly known as Twitter, saying: “To my friends in Colorado, thank you for allowing me the opportunity to serve our nation. Being your representative in Washington DC has been the highest honor of my life.”
In a video attached to his post, Buck went on to explain how election denial within the Republican party, specifically, was driving him to not run again — saying his differences with the party’s current iteration and ways of thinking are too significant for him to continue.
Since his arrival on the political scene, the outspoken Colorado rep has had a penchant for being just a little bit different from everyone else, and has made some headlines along the way.
He recently made a media splash by being a key part of the group that ousted Kevin McCarthy as Speaker of the House, leading to Mike Johnson’s eventual selection to the position.
In honor of Buck's announcement and his time coming to an end in Congress, Westword has collected five of his most memorable and viral moments over the years:
Ken Buck steps in it at Independence Institute
Back in 2010, Buck — the former district attorney of Weld County — was running for Senate. Current Colorado Senator Michael Bennet would go on to win the race against him, but not before things got spicy in the primary between Buck and his Republican opponent Jane Norton, who ran an ad questioning whether Buck was “man enough” to be a senator. Buck told Westword editor Patricia Calhoun at the time that Norton had recently said the difference between the two candidates was that she "wears high heels,” which spurred a legendary flub from Buck: When he was called on stage a bit later to speak (unexpectedly), he said people should vote for him because he doesn’t wear high heels.
He said he instead wears cowboy boots "with Weld County bullshit, not D.C. bullshit."
Not only was the incident called sexist in follow-up ads by Norton, but people were up in arms over the fact that he’d dared to say a naughty word.
Ken Buck has a gay name, according to Saturday Night Live
Buck's senate campaign was one that just kept on giving, at least for those who cared more about wild content than political know-how. Case in point: Saturday Night Live's "Weekend Update" segment on October 23, 2010.As Buck continued to make off-putting comments — such as comparing homosexuality to alcoholism and calling global warming a hoax — national media began paying close attention. SNL grabbed the gay-alcoholism comment and ran with it.
"Interesting position, Ken Buck,” Seth Meyers said on the "Weekend Update" segment. “Did your name choose to be gay?"
Gun-toting Ken Buck unloads on Beto, Biden in tweeted dare
After his failed Senate bid, Buck found success as a representative in 2015 and decided to take on some of the country's Democrats directly — namely Joe Biden and Beto O’Rourke, whom Buck called the "gun-grabbing duo” after Beto’s viral campaign declaration that he would take “your AR-15, your AK-47” and Biden's idea to name O’Rourke as a possible gun control advisor. Buck posted a video challenging the pair to take a decorative, inoperable AR-15 that was on display in his office.
“Putting a trigger lock on an inoperable gun is like putting a chastity belt on a eunuch,” Buck told the Washington Post about the wall ornament. “The only dangerous thing about that gun is if someone took it off the wall and hit somebody else over the head with it.”
Now he'll have to remove that gun from the Capitol himself when he moves out of his D.C. office.
That time Ken Buck said he doesn't use Google
Ironically, none of the social media posts that Buck is most famous for were actually made by the congressman himself. The representative is a staunch anti-big-tech enthusiast, telling Politico in 2021 that he personally boycotts Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Twitter. “I’ve got to use Twitter in order to communicate,” he said. “I don’t tweet. Someone tweets.”
If Buck does want to research things or buy something online, he tries to stick to companies like Etsy and Walmart that he considers to be more moral. He doesn’t look at cute photos of his family on Facebook; his staffers post everything online for him.
So what will become of his accounts now?
Did Ken Buck's Colorado brownies unify the GOP?
Even Buck, who was opposed to the legalization of marijuana, knows of its prowess.In January, as House Republicans were struggling to elect a speaker, he proposed a cannabis-related incentive.
“I don’t know if alcohol will help or if we need to bring in a plate of Colorado brownies,” Buck said, according to the Washington Post.
Back then, Westword suggested a pot brownie recipe for Buck. Perhaps baking some up would be a perfect way to toast to his career.
