Colorado Congressman Ken Buck doesn't want an election denier as House speaker
Rep. Ken Buck, a Republican who represents Colorado's 4th Congressional District, is among the Republicans still holding out on voting for Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan as speaker of the House.
Buck says he is opposed to Jordan because he refuses to acknowledge President Biden won and Donald Trump lost the 2020 election fairly. He also notes Jordan is among the Republicans who voted to overturn the election results.
If Jordan is speaker, Buck notes, every Republican who runs in 2024 will have to answer for his actions.
But the odds of that happening grew slimmer Wednesday. For the second day in a row, Jordan fell short of the 217 votes needed to secure the gavel. His detractors grew by two.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Republican who represents Colorado's 3rd Congressional District, and Rep. Doug Lamborn, a Republican who represents Colorado's 5th Congressional District, supported Jordan while Buck opposed him for the second time.
"If he's going to lead this conference during the presidential election cycle and particularly a presidential election year with primaries and caucuses around the country, is going to have to be strong and say, 'Donald Trump didn't win the election and we need to move forward.'"
Jordan claims he never said the election was stolen.
"I've been very clear about that. There were states who unconstitutionally changed their election law; that's what I objected to," he said.
Jordan is also the face of the Biden impeachment inquiry that buck has blasted, saying it's based on "imaginary history."
Boebert posted on social media that there is "far more that unites the republican party than divides us." But Buck and others insist additional rounds of failed voting only highlight the deep rifts within the republican conference.
"I think we're a mess," said Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Daniel Meuser.
Buck is among a growing chorus of people - including former Republican House speakers Newt Gingrich and John Boehner - calling for the House to elect Speaker Pro Tempore, Patrick McHenry as a 30-day speaker, and push the contentious election to a later date.
Ohio Congressman David Joyce plans to file a motion to do that saying: "By empowering Patrick McHenry as Speaker Pro Tempore we can take care of our ally Israel until a new speaker is elected."
But it will require making a deal with democrats, which is a no-go for Jordan. He has not said how many rounds of voting he's willing to go.
Buck -- a member of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus -- is among eight Republicans who voted to oust Kevin McCarthy as speaker two weeks ago. Congress has been paralyzed since, as wars rage in Israel and Ukraine and the federal government is just weeks away from shutting down if Congress fails to reach a spending agreement.