U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn, a nine-term congressman representing the Colorado Springs area, will not run for reelection in November — an announcement that means all three Republican-held seats in Colorado’s congressional delegation will have open races this year.
Lamborn revealed his plans Friday morning on Richard Randall’s radio show on southern Colorado’s KVOR-AM.
“I’m not getting any younger,” the 69-year-old said. “I want to spend time with my children, grandchildren, with my wife. I want to look for opportunities to do good.”
An attorney, Lamborn previously served in the Colorado House and Senate before first winning election to Congress in 2006. He represents the state’s 5th Congressional District in and around Colorado Springs, one of the Front Range’s few remaining conservative bastions.
Lamborn’s announcement comes amid broader turnover in Colorado’s Republican congressional delegation.
Rep. Ken Buck announced in November that he wouldn’t seek reelection, and U.S. Rep. Lauren Boebert said last week that she plans to abandon her western Colorado district to run for Buck’s seat on the Eastern Plains. Colorado’s other five members of the U.S. House are Democrats, as are its two U.S. senators.
“I’m not sure we’ve ever see anything like this, at least in recent history, where every Republican seat will be essentially open,” said Dick Wadhams, a Republican consultant and former chair of the Colorado GOP.
Still, he said he wasn’t terribly surprised that Lamborn was retiring, given the congressman’s lengthy political career and the potential that Democrats could retake the House next November.
Sage Naumann, a Republican consultant, quipped that he’d be heading for the exits from a “miserable” Congress, too.
Before announcing his decision to retire during Friday’s radio interview, Lamborn touted his accomplishments — including working to keep the U.S. Space Command headquarters in Colorado — and later said he’d spend his last year focusing on legislating, not politics.
Lamborn, who chaired a House subcommittee on strategic force, has weathered some controversy in recent years. He recently faced allegations that he’d misused staff time for personal errands and had flouted COVID-19 safety protocols during the pandemic, and the Office of Congressional Ethics recommended that he should be investigated in January 2022.
In a joint statement, the chairs of the Colorado Democratic Party and the El Paso County Democrats blasted Lamborn as a disappointment and a failure. Shad Murib, the state party chair, wrote that Democrats “look forward to continuing the fight to elect someone who puts El Paso County first.”
Among state’s most GOP-leaning districts
Though all three Republican-held congressional districts will be open this year, they are relatively safe GOP seats — at least on paper.
After Buck’s 4th Congressional District, Lamborn’s district includes the second-reddest area in the state. In several elections between 2016 and 2020, the district favored Republicans by more than 20 percentage points, according to a report for Colorado’s redistricting commission; that was more than double the 9.3-point margin of Boebert’s current seat in the 3rd Congressional District.
Lamborn’s decision to retire will likely open the primary’s floodgates among Republicans. He’s repeatedly faced primary challenges, and the district is home to several prominent current and former GOP legislators and officials.
They include the top Republican in the state Senate, Paul Lundeen, and the No. 2 Republican in the House, Rose Pugliese. Dave Williams, the current chair of the Colorado Republican Party and a former legislator, ran an unsuccessful primary campaign against Lamborn in 2022. Tim Geitner, the former No. 2 House Republican, also represented a local district in the state legislature.
Wayne Williams, a former Republican secretary of state who most recently ran unsuccessfully for mayor of Colorado Springs, said in an email that he was discussing running for Lamborn’s seat “with family and supporters.” Rep. Scott Bottoms, a Colorado Springs Republican and freshman lawmaker, said he wasn’t interested in running.
Attempts to reach several other potential candidates were not successful Friday. Shortly after Lamborn’s announcement, Dave Williams re-posted a campaign ad from his 2022 race to social media.
Five Democrats already are running in CD5
As of Friday morning, Lamborn was the only Republican who’d filed paperwork to run for the seat he’ll now vacate. Five Democrats had registered seeking to oppose him, along with two unaffiliated candidates and a Constitution Party candidate, but fundraising has been minimal. Rep. Marc Snyder, a House Democrat from Colorado Springs who’s vying for the state Senate this year, said Friday that he wouldn’t run for Lamborn’s seat.
Several sitting House Republicans are already running congressional campaigns. Mike Lynch, the top House Republican, and his whip, Rep. Richard Holtorf, are both running in a crowded field for Buck’s seat. Freshman Rep. Gabe Evans is challenging Democratic U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo in the new 8th Congressional District.
Congress presents a unique, and vanishing, opportunity for Colorado Republicans to gain prominence. Colorado has turned a deeper shade of blue in recent years, and Republicans haven’t won a statewide seat — governor, attorney general, secretary of state, treasurer or U.S. senator — in nearly a decade. The party’s near-term prospects of regaining the majority in either state legislative chamber are also slim.
“Republicans in 3rd, 4th and 5th (congressional districts), if they want to move up, this is the place they can go,” Wadhams said.
The timeline to compete for Lamborn’s seat is tight. The primary is fewer than six months away, and given the red hue of the district, whoever triumphs in June will likely be the favorite to coast to Congress in November.
But the coming legislative session, which begins next week, will likely pose a logistical obstacle for any sitting legislators interested in the seat. Rep. Matt Soper, a Delta Republican, told the Colorado Sun that he wouldn’t run for Boebert’s now-open 3rd District seat because of the timing.
“This seat doesn’t become totally open all that often,” Wadhams said. “Just like the 4th when Ken Buck pulled out and just like the 3rd when Boebert decided to move — if you want to run for Congress, there’s no better time than when an open seat is in front of you.”
Staff writer Nick Coltrain contributed to this story.
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