He resigned as mayor after receiving the Saskatchewan Party nomination for the new Saskatoon Westview district ahead of the 2016 provincial election.
[2] Buckingham stated that his interest in provincial politics stemmed from working with the government on flood relief in Borden in 2013.
[2] In the 2016 election, Buckingham pulled off an upset by defeating Cam Broten, leader of the Saskatchewan New Democratic Party (NDP), by a narrow margin of 232 votes.
[3][4] Buckingham was re-elected by a wider margin in the 2020 provincial election, taking 54% of the tally in Saskatoon Westview.
[6] In the lead-up to the election, it was revealed by former Speaker Randy Weekes that Buckingham had used a racial slur in a 2023 caucus meeting.