Rep. Steve King lost the Republican primary in his northwest Iowa district in a challenge spurred by the 18-year incumbent’s racially tinged remarks.
Most of the Republican establishment supported King’s opponent, state Sen. Randy Feenstra, such as the Republican Main Street Partnership PAC. The third-ranking House Republican, Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming, called for King’s resignation in 2019. And the head of House Republicans’ 2018 campaign effort, Rep. Steve Stivers of Ohio, has repeatedly called for King to be ousted from Congress.
Feenstra was declared the winner of the Tuesday primary around 11 p.m. local time.
“I am truly humbled. Thank you to each and every person who supported us on this journey against all odds. You delivered. But tomorrow, it’s back to work,” Feenstra said in a tweet.
I am truly humbled. Thank you to each and every person who supported us on this journey against all odds. You delivered. But tomorrow, it’s back to work. #ia04 pic.twitter.com/B0nCT7C9XI
— Randy Feenstra (@RandyFeenstra) June 3, 2020
King stirred trouble in January 2019 when he mused about how it became so controversial to talk about white nationalism and white supremacy.
“White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?” King told the New York Times. “Why did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our civilization?”
King soon lost his committee assignments, including his membership on the House agriculture panel, an important post for a rural-district lawmaker.
King, 71, however, defended his record.
“None of my opponents have criticized a single vote that I put up in 18 years in this Congress. I don’t have a single personal accuser of anything. It’s all left-wing press,” King recently told the Washington Examiner.
King continued forward with his 2020 reelection campaign for his R+11 Cook Political Report-rated district, to the annoyance of the Republican Party. In addition to GOP congressional leaders, he lost support from powerful Iowa conservatives, including Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds and Christian leader Bob Vander Plaats.
Feenstra dwarfed King in fundraising efforts. But King’s name identification among party conservatives kept his numbers up in the polls throughout the cycle. An April 28 Sioux City Journal poll had King leading Feenstra 41% to 34%.
However, according to a more recent May 19 Public Opinion Strategies poll conducted for an anti-King group, Feenstra was leading the congressman 41% to 39% after taking into account the three other primary challengers’ numbers.
Feenstra ended up winning 45.7% of the vote to King’s 36%.
