DENVER — A Republican legislator resigned from the Colorado House on Thursday afternoon, hours after Democrats announced that they would move to censure him.

Rep. Ryan Armagost had come under fire for taking a photo of a Democratic legislator in the spring and sharing it in a private group chat, where she was mocked for her attire.

Armagost sent a brief resignation letter to House staff in the afternoon, according to a statement from the House Republican caucus. He had skipped this week’s special session so far and was already set to leave the legislature on Sept. 1.

His expedited departure potentially throws a wrench into House Democrats’ plans to publicly reprimand him. It comes weeks after Colorado Public Radio reported that he’d taken a photo of the colleague on the House floor in April, during the regular session, and shared it in a Republican group chat, where other lawmakers ridiculed the legislator’s appearance.

Asked if Democratic lawmakers would still pursue a censure, House Democratic spokesman Jarrett Freedman said the caucus was “exploring next steps.”

Armagost, who was the chamber’s third-ranking Republican, had declined to comment earlier Thursday. In a statement, Rep. Yara Zokaie — the Democrat whom Armagost photographed — criticized him for resigning “rather than face accountability for his actions.”

“Resigning may remove him from this chamber, but it does not erase the harm he caused or the responsibility he bears for perpetuating a culture of violence against women,” she wrote.

Speaker Julie McCluskie announced the decision to pursue a censure of Armagost in a Democratic caucus meeting Thursday morning, shortly after lawmakers returned to the Capitol for a special legislative session to deal with a budget shortfall.

In the spring, after Armagost posted the photo of Zokaie in the private House Republican group chat, GOP lawmakers mocked Zokaie’s clothing and boots. One Republican member compared her to a stripper. The photo was soon posted on social media.

Zokaie told her colleagues that the photo “resulted in never-ending harassment.” She said the comments made by Republicans in the group chat were “vile.” She said she received a message that included her children’s school address and that the messenger said they knew when students were released.

“Minority leadership did not take any action. I went to Rose (Pugliese) and told her about the message and about how relentless this has all been, and she told me she’d find out who did it and who took the picture,” Zokaie said, referring to the House’s top Republican. “At the time she said that, she knew who it was.”

In response, some Democratic legislators questioned why Pugliese wasn’t being censured as well. But in a statement Thursday evening, Pugliese said she never lied to Zokaie. She said she told Monica Duran, the Democratic majority leader, that Armagost had taken the photo in April. Pugliese wrote that she told Duran that Pugliese “would address the matter with my caucus, which I did, making it clear the behavior was unacceptable.”

“Unfortunately, it was Democratic leadership that failed to inform Representative Zokaie,” Pugliese wrote, adding that she felt her integrity was being unfairly damaged.

In response, Duran said in a statement that Pugliese’s comments were “an extreme mischaracterization of our conversation” and accused Republicans of “evading responsibility and accountability.”

“Had the Minority Leader told us it was Rep. Armagost in April, we would not have needed to pursue video footage to find out who took the photo,” Duran wrote, “and if (Pugliese) had taken action to address this incident, then we would not have felt the need to pursue a censure.”

Armagost had announced in late June, before the CPR report was published or aired, that he intended to resign from the legislature on Sept. 1 with plans to move to Arizona.

McCluskie said Thursday that Zokaie endured sexual harassment. When she announced that the caucus would seek a censure, Democratic lawmakers applauded.

A censure vote is a rare and collective reprimand from the House. It requires a simple majority to pass, which means Democrats likely have more than enough votes to adopt it.

Democratic leaders had planned to introduce the censure resolution Thursday afternoon and consider it Friday. If lawmakers vote to reprimand Armagost, it will be the first time a lawmaker has been censured since 2008.

In addition to his leadership role, Armagost also served as the chair of the House’s workplace harassment committee, which is charged with overseeing investigations into complaints of legislative misconduct. He had been removed from that role, though he still served on two other legislative committees.

During the caucus meeting Thursday morning, McCluskie and Duran said they’d never experienced anything like the Armagost incident during their time in the Capitol.

“We want to make sure this doesn’t happen to anyone ever again,” Duran said.

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