[8] In August 2007, Ward was called up to active duty in Iraq as part of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force,[8] where he served as a military inspector general based at Camp Fallujah.
He returned from his Iraq deployment in early February 2008,[5] several weeks into the 2008 legislative session; he was greeted with applause from fellow Senators during the morning roll call.
[14] In November 2006, Senator Jim Dyer was elected to a post on the Arapahoe County Commission and resigned from the state legislature.
[24] During the legislative session, Ward denounced as the "nanny state bill of the year" a measure which would require single-family homes to install carbon monoxide detectors.
[34] He pledged to work towards a balanced budget and stated that he would place high priority in Congress on delivering transportation funding for Colorado.
[29][35] Ultimately, Ward raised a total of about $100,000 for his campaign[36] and placed fourth among the contenders for the Republican nomination[37] with roughly 12 percent of the vote;[38] he conceded the race to Coffman early on the night of the primary and expressed support for the fellow Iraq veteran.