Category: IA-04

It was early Saturday morning, and Jessica Birch didn’t feel like getting out of bed. Hungover and tired, the 21-year-old University of Northern Iowa student could easily have turned off her alarm. But the night before, she saw a Facebook event for Congressman Steve King’s town hall forum in Grundy County come across her feed, and she felt a civic duty to attend. So, Birch forced herself out of bed and headed 17 miles down the road to the Grundy Center Community Center. She arrived to peculiar scene: out of the over 12,000 people that live in Grundy County, Birch […]

Just hours after Congressman Steve King made offensive comments about rape and incest this morning, he was confronted by a constituent over a real-life example of incestuous rape in his district. Katie Koehler, a retired Mason City public school teacher, told King that one of her 10-year-old students became pregnant after she was raped by her uncle, and asked King whether he would make that child carry a baby to term. “As a fourth grade teacher, I had a student that was raped by their uncle and became pregnant,” Koehler said at King’s Rockwell town hall forum Wednesday afternoon. “It […]

Congressman Steve King’s comments this morning on rape and incest drew quick and widespread condemnation from across the political world. “What if we went back through all the family trees and just pulled out anyone who was a product of rape or incest? Would there be any population of the world left if we did that?” the Des Moines Register reported King saying at the Westside Conservative Club this morning. “Considering all the wars and all the rapes and pillages that happened throughout all these different nations, I know that I can’t say that I was not a part of […]

In the wake of Saturday’s mass shooting in El Paso, Texas, news outlets, political commentators and everyday Americans have drawn connections between the alleged shooter’s racist past and the divisive language of President Donald Trump. But there’s another politician, closer to home, whose past statements are similar to those written in the 21-year-old man’s manifesto, posted online minutes before he murdered 22 people at Walmart. Iowa congressman Steve King and the gunman both have invoked white supremacist’s “Great Replacement” ideology, a far-right conspiracy theory asserting white people are systematically being replaced by racial minorities. “We can’t restore our civilization with someone else’s […]

J.D. Scholten is in for round two for Iowa’s 4th Congressional District, eyeing a rematch with U.S. Rep. Steve King. He announced his candidacy this morning with a video narrated by Kevin Costner that’s heavy on rural Iowa imagery. “We’re building a people-powered campaign that is focused on meeting with, listening to, and earning the trust and support of voters in all 39 counties in Iowa’s 4th district,” Scholten said in a statement. “This time, we’re going to get the job done. Too many Iowan families feel like they’re getting kicked in the dirt, suffering from an economy and a government […]

In a speech last week on the U.S. House floor, Iowa Congressman Steve King said he never was quoted using or defending the term “white nationalist” until a New York Times article was released that ultimately led to the loss of his committee assignments. An interview with WHO-TV’s Dave Price that aired October 21, 2018, however, tells a different story. In the interview, conducted about two months before the New York Times’ January 10, 2019 piece, Price asked the 4th District congressman to provide his definition of a “white nationalist.” “Well, I’m not sure of that,” King replied. “First of […]

Congressman Steve King took to the House floor Thursday night to lament the loss of his committee assignments, accusing Republican leadership of “stifling” his freedom of speech. King, representing Iowa’s 4th Congressional District, has insisted he was misquoted in a Jan. 10 New York Times article that led House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to introduce a resolution condemning his remarks. King was quoted as asking the reporter: “White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?” As a result, King was removed from the agriculture, judiciary and small business committees on which he served. ” … my reward […]

Steve King may be the long-time incumbent in Iowa’s 4th Congressional District, but this year, that status has not translated into much support from Republican donors. Instead, well-known Iowa Republicans with deep pockets are turning to state Sen. Randy Feenstra, one of three Republicans challenging Congressman King to a primary. In the first quarter of fundraising at the beginning of 2019, Feenstra turned heads by securing a $1,000 donation from former Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, who now serves as U.S. Ambassador to China. In the second quarter, spanning April 1 to June 30, Feenstra raised $140,451 compared to King’s $91,536. […]