Controversial Republican congressman Steve King ousted in Iowa primary
- The nine-term Iowa Republican had been rebuked by party leaders over his inflammatory statements about race and immigration
- Iowa was one of seven states holding congressional primaries and King’s race was the most prominent
Iowa Republican congressman Steve King lost his primary on Tuesday, ending a tumultuous career of nearly two decades in the House where he made a series of controversial and racist comments.
State Senator Randy Feenstra was declared the winner of the 4th District primary over King, who lost his committee assignments last year after he questioned when terms such as “white supremacy” became offensive in an interview with The New York Times. King has made several racist comments through the years, and he nearly lost re-election in 2018 even though the northwest Iowa seat is deeply Republican.
Those remarks led House Republican leaders to remove him from all of his committee assignments. He had been on the Agriculture panel, an important post for a representative from an agrarian state.
“White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilisation – how did that language become offensive?” Mr King said, according to the Times. “Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilisation?”
King tried to clarify his comments, saying he was a “nationalist” defending the values of Western civilisation and not an advocate for white supremacy. Yet many prominent Republicans in Washington and in his district distanced themselves from him and gave their support to Feenstra.
Iowa was one of seven states holding congressional primaries on Tuesday amid a once-in-a-century pandemic and the civil unrest that have sharpened political divisions across the US. King’s race was the most prominent and the only one where a veteran of Congress was facing a serious fight to stay in office.