DENVER — Republican House Minority Leader Mike Lynch announced on Wednesday he is stepping down from his position at the end of the day.
Last week, The Denver Post was the first to report on Lynch's September 2022 arrest for drunk driving and possessing a gun while drunk.
Lynch survived a no-confidence vote within the House GOP in a 9-9 tie Monday. Lynch avoided getting ousted for a second straight day when the majority of the minority party did not show up, preventing a caucus for a second no-confidence vote on Tuesday. Wednesday morning he told colleagues he planned to resign.
"I am not stepping down because I want a close vote of no confidence. I am not stepping down because a failed party chair decided to try and influence the actions of this house," Lynch said. "I am stepping down because it is the right thing to do because I have become a distraction for my caucus and that is getting in the way of the hard work we have to do in this building."
The "failed party chair" remark was a jab at Colorado Republican Party chairman Dave Williams, who attended the attempt at a no-confidence vote on Tuesday.
"The right thing to do would be for Mike Lynch to resign his post as Minority Leader," Williams said on Tuesday. "This is the position of the party, and of me, personally."
Last week, Lynch told 9NEWS that he would not resign or stop running for Congress.
"No, this happened outside of session," Lynch told 9NEWS.
He is a candidate for the 4th Congressional District to replace Republican Rep. Ken Buck.
Lynch said there would be a vote Thursday morning to determine who will replace him as Minority Leader. He will remain a state lawmaker, just not in leadership.
Lynch told a talk radio show Monday that he has “received peace” from Jesus for driving drunk while armed with a handgun. Lynch said on the show that media reports on his previously secret 2022 arrest are a “hit job.”
"The media were upset they didn't know about it a year and a half ago, so they took it to me," Lynch told KHOW-AM's Dan Caplis Show.
Colorado State Patrol video from the September 2022 arrest, obtained by 9NEWS, shows Lynch asking a trooper to keep his arrest quiet. It also shows Lynch admit he has a gun in his pocket and then reach for it after the trooper asks him to not touch a pocketknife that the trooper saw.
Trooper: "I see you've got your pocketknife there, I’m just going to grab that from you here. Don’t touch it for me.”
Lynch: "I've got a gun in this pocket, too."
Trooper: "You have a gun?”
Lynch: “Yeah.”
Trooper: “Don’t move. Stop. You're not going to do that, OK? We’re not going to reach for guns while talking to police."
Lynch: "Yes, sir."
Lynch is on probation until June for driving 90 mph on Interstate 25 with a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit and possessing a gun while drunk.
"I would like this to serve as a reminder to my fellow colleagues. Be careful. Don't make the same mistake that I made which was to get behind the wheel after I had had too much to drink," Lynch told fellow lawmakers Wednesday morning. "There is a lot of socializing here, thank God, in my instance, there was no damage done. I will tell you personally it has been life-changing."
The trooper wrote that he feared for his safety when Lynch reached for a handgun in his pocket during the traffic stop.
"I have received peace from my Lord and Savior,” Lynch told Caplis, adding, “I’m human, and I do human things.”
The House GOP caucus was evenly split Monday on whether to remove Lynch from his post. Colleagues expressed frustration that Lynch did not disclose his 2-month-old arrest to them when he was first elected to leadership in late 2022.
One representative was absent from the caucus meeting on Monday.
“I have fully accepted, and I own the mistake I made in 2022, that’s what leaders do,” Lynch said in a written statement following Monday’s no-confidence vote.
> Video below: Watch the full interview with Mike Lynch:
Within hours, Lynch had pivoted to signaling toward the Republican base with his comments on KHOW radio blaming journalists, citing his Christian faith and suggesting that the reason he was armed while driving drunk was due to the fear of crime in Denver.
“Yes, I had a gun on me because I work in Denver, right?” Lynch told Caplis. “That is a safety measure that I keep with me coming in and out of the Capitol.”
Lynch was arrested in September 2022, while the legislature was not in session. He was stopped while driving between a non-political event in Fort Collins and his home in Wellington, 92 and 105 miles from Denver, respectively.
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