Controversial Iowa Republican congressman Steve King has lost his bid to be nominated for a 10th term, the Associated Press reported late Tuesday night.
The 71-year-old Iowa native faced four challengers in Tuesday’s Iowa primary. Topping the field is a well-funded state senator, Randy Feenstra, who offered support for President Donald Trump, hardline immigration policies and other conservative views without King’s baggage.
“Provocative statements piling up over the years have been a drag on King’s latest campaign,” the AP wrote. “He has compared immigrants crossing the border illegally to cattle, made light of rape and incest in defending his anti-abortion views, and wondered aloud when the term ‘white supremacist’ became offensive.”
Last year House Republicans stripped King of his committee assignments after his remarks seeming to defend white nationalism appeared in The New York Times. King said they were taken out of context.
“Critics in both parties have charged that King is no longer an effective representative for Iowa’s 4th Congressional District on agriculture and other local issues,” the AP reported. “Worse for King, even his supporters worried that he could lose the seat to a Democratic challenger if he were nominated again.”
