It’s Been A Pretty Bad Week For Rep. Steve King’s Campaign

UNITED STATES - NOVEMBER 28: Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, leaves a meeting of the House Republican Conference in the Capitol on November 28, 2018. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
UNITED STATES - NOVEMBER 28: Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, leaves a meeting of the House Republican Conference in the Capitol on November 28, 2018. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

Rep. Steve King (R-IA) seems to finally be reaping what he sowed, as he lost a prominent endorsement Thursday to a challenger who’s already been significantly out-fundraising him.

Bob Vander Plaats, president of the prominent evangelical group The Family Leader, threw his support to one of King’s challengers, GOP state Sen. Randy Feenstra.

According to the Des Moines register, Vander Plaats had long supported King until the lawmaker’s comments about white supremacy last January.

This lost endorsement comes on the heels of more bad news for King, as he only pulled in $92,000 this quarter to Feenstra’s $140,000.

But, as this is the amazing teflon Steve King, all bad news for his reelection prospects must be taken with a grain of salt. As the Register points out, King has historically under-earned compared to his challengers and still managed to come out on top. In 2018, his Democratic challenger J.D. Scholten consistently out-fundraised him, by as much as a factor of four in the last quarter, and still lost the election.

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. Losing the love of a name brand TV preacher is never helpful for King’s ilk. Off the prayer list is not where the incumbent wants to be going into a primary.

  2. As the Register points out King has historically under-earned compared to his challengers and still managed to come out on top.

    Translation: Never underestimate racist Iowa voters.

  3. Is it wrong that I"m laughing at King over this?

  4. The good people of the 4th District of Iowa deserve better leadership that is representative of who they are.

    Given that they’ve been electing him to state or national office now for more than 20 years, I’d say King is exactly representative of who they are.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

48 more replies

Participants

Avatar for eloise Avatar for littlegirlblue Avatar for eggrollian Avatar for cervantes Avatar for george_spiggott Avatar for inversion Avatar for christianhankel Avatar for sparrowhawk Avatar for stradivarius50t3 Avatar for arc_of_the_universe Avatar for sanni Avatar for martinstett Avatar for robcat2075 Avatar for dommyluc Avatar for bkmn Avatar for edhedh Avatar for castor_troy Avatar for tpr Avatar for coimmigrant Avatar for drtv Avatar for newhavenep5 Avatar for timorwig Avatar for occamscoin Avatar for ANNFFL

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: