U.S. Rep. Ken Buck has received four death threats and is being evicted from one of his Colorado congressional offices because of his votes in the ongoing House speaker saga, he told NBC News.
Buck was among a growing number of House Republicans opposing Ohio U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan’s quest to become House speaker. Jordan repeatedly failed to win enough Republican votes to ascend to the position this week, and after a third failed attempt Friday, House Republicans dropped him as a speaker candidate.
While Jordan’s candidacy was still alive, Republican holdouts said they received a barrage of messages and threats seeking to persuade them to support the Ohio congressman, who has baselessly questioned the results of the 2020 election and is a favorite of the party’s right wing.
Buck, who was not available for an interview Thursday night or early Friday, told NBC Thursday that his opposition to Jordan led to the eviction notice and to the threats.
“Everybody in the (House Republican) conference is getting this,” he said. “So it’s natural. Family members have been approached and threatened, all kinds of things are going on. There’s going to be some tension.”
Buck, who represents Colorado’s 4th Congressional District, has said he opposes Jordan because of the Ohio congressman’s election denialism. Buck told NBC that he had six full-time staff members answering the phones and that he had received more than 20,000 messages.
The Colorado Republican Party, which Buck once led as its chairman, threw its weight behind Jordan on Wednesday and urged supporters in an email to contact Buck about his vote.
A Buck spokesman confirmed Thursday that the congressman has received credible death threats and has received an eviction notice for Buck’s office in Windsor. Staff has been told to vacate the office within 30 days. The spokesman declined to comment on whether there had been any arrests related to the threats or if the congressman increased his security.
In his interview with NBC, Buck said his “landlord is mad with my voting record on the speaker issue.” A message sent to the property owner, Pelican Point Business Park, was not returned Friday.
The pro-Jordan pressure campaign aimed at the roughly 20 Republicans who opposed Jordan grew in intensity this week. Rep. Don Bacon, of Nebraska, said his wife sleeps with a loaded gun near her bedside because of messages she’s received. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, of Iowa, said in a statement that she had received “credible death threats.”
In a statement on social media after Miller-Meeks’ statement, Jordan called the threats “abhorrent” and asked that they stop.
On Friday morning, the House again failed to elect a speaker, with Jordan falling further short. All five of Colorado’s Democratic representatives voted for Rep. Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the House’s top Democrat. Buck maintained his opposition, too, though fellow Republican Reps. Lauren Boebert and Doug Lamborn both voted for Jordan.
Shortly after the vote Friday, House Republicans decided to drop Jordan as a Speaker candidate and reconvene Monday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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