U.S. Rep. Doug Lamborn says he won’t seek reelection, giving all three of Colorado’s GOP-held seats open races

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 be open this year.

Lamborn discussed 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.

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 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 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 in the district. He’s repeatedly faced primary challenges, and the district is home to several prominent current and former GOP legislators.

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, 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.

As of Lamborn’s announcement, he 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.

Several sitting House Republicans are already running for the other two open congressional seats. 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.