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Republican Greg Lopez easily won the special election Tuesday in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District, meaning he’ll serve out the term of former U.S. Rep. Ken Buck, which ends in early January.
The Associated Press called the race at 7:34 p.m. when Lopez had 57% of the vote over Democrat Trisha Calvarese, a former speechwriter and congressional staffer.
“Neither of my parents had the opportunity to graduate from high school, and yet, this evening I was elected to serve in the United States House of Representatives,” Lopez said in a written statement. “I truly feel I am a living testament that regardless of who you are or where you come from, we can all be a part of the American Dream. That said, the real work starts now.”
Lopez said he will head to Washington as soon as his victory is verified “ready to serve all the residents of the district with honor and integrity regardless of whether or not they voted for me.”
Lopez, an Air Force veteran, last held elected office from 1992 to 1996, when he was Parker’s mayor. He won that race as a Democrat by 33 votes, becoming a Republican in 1994. Lopez went on to serve as the regional director of the Small Business Administration and then ran unsuccessfully for state Senate in 1998, U.S. Senate in 2016, and governor in both 2018 and 2022.
Lopez has hinted that he plans to use his placeholder position to catapult himself into another political position. (He did not run in the simultaneous Republican primary for the 4th District that will decide who takes over the seat next year for a full, two-year term.)
“Don’t be surprised if you see my name again somewhere on the ballot sometime in the future,” he told attendees at a Republican luncheon in April.
Lopez’s victory comes despite several high-profile run-ins with law enforcement, which have been well documented and that he’s openly talked about.
In 1993, he and his wife, Lisa, both were cited in a domestic violence incident in which he was accused of pushing his wife, who was six months pregnant, to the floor and kicking her after she hit him on the top of his head. A year later, The Denver Post reported, Lopez and his wife each pleaded guilty to a single charge of harassment.
Lopez was also accused, in a separate case, of driving under the influence.
Then, in October 2020, Lopez settled a lawsuit filed by federal prosecutors alleging that after he left the Small Business Administration, where he was the Colorado district director from 2008 to 2014, Lopez violated federal law by attempting to improperly influence actions of the agency.
Prosecutors alleged Lopez “attempted to influence the SBA’s handling of its loan guarantee” to Morreale Hotels, which was owned by Lopez’s friend.
Lopez paid $15,000 to resolve the case and “acknowledged that the United States could prove the facts alleged in the civil action by a preponderance of the evidence,” per a news release from the Trump administration’s Justice Department.
Lopez said he wasn’t aware at the time that he did anything wrong. He also said prosecutors brought the case just days before the statute of limitations expired. “They wanted $157,000 for a phone call and an email,” he said. “I settled for $15,000.”
Colorado’s Trump-appointed U.S. attorney at the time, Jason Dunn, framed the case differently.
“Mr. Lopez’s attempts to exert improper influence over a federal agency on behalf of his friend were serious violations of the rules for former federal officials,” Dunn said in a written statement. “The American people deserve to have confidence that the federal government runs its programs without favoritism towards former officials.”
Still, even with his vulnerabilities, Lopez’s victory was never really in doubt.
National Democratic and Republican groups ignored the race in a sign that they thought the Republican’s victory was a foregone conclusion.
It has been more than three decades since there was a special election in Colorado to fill a congressional vacancy.
In 1982, Republican U.S. Rep.-elect Jack Swigert, a former astronaut, died soon after he was elected to Congress in the newly created 6th Congressional District. A special election was held in early 1983, and Republican Dan Schaefer of Lakewood won the seat. Schaefer went on to hold the seat until early 1999, after he decided not to run for reelection to Congress.
Lopez and Calvarese were nominated to appear on the ballot by their respective parties at special conventions earlier this year. Buck resigned March 22, and the 4th District hasn’t had a member of the House representing them since.
Lopez won’t be sworn in until late July, after the results of the 4th District special election are finalized. Congress is scheduled to take almost all of August off, as well as the first week of September. It’s also scheduled to be off all of October and the first week of November through Veterans Day, before again taking week-long breaks for Thanksgiving and Christmas.
This is a developing story that will be updated.
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