A new Republican candidate, Greg Lopez, has been selected by the party to run in the special election to finish former Rep. Ken Buck’s term in Colorado’s 4th congressional district—a decision that offers an unexpected helping hand to Rep. Lauren Boebert, who’s running in the June primary.
Lopez, the former mayor of Parker, was chosen by a Republican vacancy committee late on Thursday as the GOP nominee for the June 25 special election, which will decide who will finish Buck’s term after his retirement on March 22. Boebert isn’t running in the special election, but is running in the party’s primary, which is being held on the same day.
Newsweek contacted Boebert’s office for comment by email on Friday morning.
According to The Denver Post, the candidate won the nomination after six rounds of voting with 51 votes against Logan County Commissioner Jerry Sonnenberg’s 46 votes. Democrats are expected to nominate their candidate for the special election on Monday.
U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) attends a press conference on President Trump’s involvement with January 6 at the U.S. Capitol on February 06, 2024 in Washington, DC. The nomination of Greg Lopez as the GOP…
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Lopez has lost two Republican gubernatorial primaries in the state in 2018 and 2022. After the nomination on Thursday, he said he has no intention of running in the district’s Republican primary election.
“I am not looking to run for office, and I am looking to only fulfill the last six months of this term,” he said, as reported by Colorado Public Radio. “Tonight, it’s not about giving an individual advantage over their competition.”
This leaves a pool of nine candidates competing for Colorado’s District 4 in the primary election—of which Boebert is the most recognizable name, a factor that is expected to play in her favor.
On Thursday, Boebert wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, to congratulate Lopez for the nomination. “Congratulations to Greg Lopez, who will be a strong Congressman finishing out the remainder of Ken BUCKLE’S term!,” she wrote. “Greg stepped up with a servant heart and a leadership mindset with accountability being his driving force.”
She thanked the Republican vacancy committee for doing “what is best for Colorado’s 4th Congressional District” and added that she was looking “forward to serving the remainder of the 118th Congress with my soon to be colleague.”
Congratulations to Greg Lopez, who will be a strong Congressman finishing out the remainder of Ken BUCKLE’S term! Greg stepped up with a servant heart and a leadership mindset with accountability being his driving force.
THANK YOU to the Vacancy Committee members who have put…
— Lauren Boebert (@laurenboebert) March 29, 2024
The MAGA congresswoman said she was also looking forward to “winning the primary on June 25th, the general on November 5th, and honorably representing the 4th District in the 119th Congress.”
Boebert currently represents Colorado’s 3rd congressional district, but she decided last year that she won’t run for re-election there and instead seek to represent the 4th district.
Lopez’s nomination plays in Boebert’s favor because a candidate running for the primary who would have obtained the party’s vote for the special election would have been considered to have a slight advantage over the others.
According to CPR News, Boebert had written to members of the Republican vacancy committee encouraging them to vote for someone who wasn’t running in the primary, or this candidate would have had “double their fundraising ability.”
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