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Rep. Mike Lynch’s fellow Republican lawmakers voted 9-9 in a no-confidence vote after his 2022 DUI arrest came to light last week.
DENVER — Colorado’s Republican legislators on Monday held a no-confidence vote in state House Minority Leader Mike Lynch after news broke last week that he was arrested on suspicion of DUI in 2022.
House Republicans held a special caucus meeting to vote on a resolution of no confidence in Lynch, of Wellington. Lynch barely survived the 9-9 vote with one member, Rep. Stephanie Luck of Penrose, excused because she gave birth over the weekend, according to Colorado Politics.
How each member voted is unknown because the vote was conducted via secret ballot. The tie vote could mean another attempt once Luck is available, Colorado Politics reported.
Lynch’s arrest for DUI, speeding and being in possession of a gun while drunk in 2022 was kept from the public until The Denver Post reported it Wednesday. Dash camera and in-video videos of Lynch’s arrest show him asking for his arrest to be kept secret and a state trooper telling him “that’s how people get shot” when he reached for a gun in his pocket.
Lynch told 9NEWS last week that it was a personal matter and he did not think there was a reason to tell the public about it, but that he was showing leadership by talking about what he wanted to be kept quiet.
In a statement Monday after the vote, Lynch again said he was showing leadership.
“I have fully accepted, and I own the mistake I made in 2022, that’s what leaders do,” says the statement, in part. “I look forward to earning the trust of the members that didn’t vote for me, and I appreciate the continued support of those who did.”
Watch the full interview here:
A Colorado State Patrol report says Lynch was speeding on Interstate 25 in Larimer County when the trooper pulled him over. Lynch told the trooper he was coming from a fundraiser in Fort Collins, and the trooper said in the report that he could smell alcohol on the state representative’s breath.
The trooper noted Lynch appeared drunk, and that he was carrying a pocketknife. Lynch admitted to having a gun on him. The report says Lynch then reached for the pocket the gun was in.
The trooper said Lynch grabbed the gun, and then began to pull the gun out of his pocket. According to the report, the trooper pinned Lynch’s hand, still holding the gun, against the representative’s leg.
“I think it was an ‘oh crap, I forgot, I’ve got a gun in my pocket.’ And so, I was trying to be proactive with the officer,” Lynch said to 9NEWS last week.
> Video below: Dash camera video shows the 2022 arrest:
Here’s what the Colorado State Patrol trooper wrote in the DUI report:
“I feared for my safety as Mr. Lynch manipulated a firearm after I had clearly told him not to touch the knife in his other pocket,” the trooper wrote. “He told me he had a little .380 and said ‘it’s not a big deal’. I informed him that pulling a gun out of our pocket when in contact with the police was, in fact, a big deal and people get shot that way.”
Lynch is running in a crowded race in Colorado’s 4th Congressional District to replace Republican Congressman Ken Buck. He’ll be running against current Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert, who switched to the CD-4 race from the third Congressional District on the Western Slope.
This story includes previous reporting by Marshall Zelinger and Marissa Solomon.
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