On Thursday, Weld County Sheriff Steve Reams appeared on a right-wing radio show to talk about possibly opposing U.S. Rep. Ken Buck (R-CO) in the Republican primary next year.
Referencing a news report, which Buck has denied, Reams told KHOW talk show host Dan Caplis that Buck was “interviewing with CNN” and “basically doing audition tapes with all these different liberal media outlets.”
Reams was also concerned about Buck’s recent vote to remove House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA).
Reams speculated that Buck was attempting to “pander to a certain portion of the Republican Party that may have started to move away from him.”
“Obviously he’s no longer connected to his community,” he continued. “And maybe he needs a challenger.”
Discussing his close ties with Buck, Reams mentioned that the lawmaker had called him that morning asking him whether he was officially running.
“I was not formally announcing any kind of campaign, but I was definitely exploring the option, wanting to see what kind of political options are out there for assembling a team [and] what it would look like to run in that race,” said Reams.
Of their relationship, Reams described his gradual loss of faith in Buck.
“I helped Ken for many years,” Reams said. “When he did his first Senate run, when he switched over and ran for this congressional seat, I helped him with that, I kind of cut my teeth helping in his campaigns when it comes to politics and my family, and I walked in, I can’t tell you how many parades for the guy, and then over the years I’ve kind of been connected to him through that in our local community.”
“If a person had a question about Ken’s vote or, ‘Why did he do this,’ a lot of times I’d get a call. And I defended the guy for a lot of years, you know, sometimes to my own demise,” said Reams on air.
“And then, you know, the last six or seven months I started seeing a different guy out there.”
On Facebook last week, Reams shared a post with a photo of Buck and a comment that Buck would be “toast in Colorado” due to his vote to oust McCarthy. Reams noted on Facebook, “There might be an alternative entering the race.”
Reams then liked a comment on his post saying that Buck was a “dick head.”
Given a chance to introduce himself to possible supporters, Reams told the KHOW audience about his concern over both northern and southern border control and how the U.S. is “waiting for the next 9/11 to happen.” Reams went on to express his concern that immigrants would be responsible for such an attack.
“We’re shipping people into the interior of our country who could take us out,” he said.
There’s no evidence that migrants pose a threat in the U.S.
Since taking over the Sheriff’s office in 2014, Reams has made a name for himself as a staunch 2nd Amendment advocate and for his refusal to enforce state-wide health guidelines during the pandemic.
In his role last year as master of ceremonies at a congressional primary debate, Reams leaped from a stage to stop Weld County Commissioner Lori Saine, a Republican, from taking part in the debate from which she’d been excluded.
