The case to expel white supremacist Steve King from Congress

[Celerity]

2. 'He's so openly racist': why does Iowa keep electing Steve King to Congress?

The eight-term congressman has Donald Trump’s backing, and looks likely to be re-elected in November’s midterms despite his ties to European far-right

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/oct/26/hes-so-openly-racist-why-does-iowa-keep-electing-steve-king-to-congress


Nobody in Iowa is undecided, it seems, about whether Steve King, the eight-term Republican congressman, is a racist. The contention is either obviously true – or totally preposterous, depending on whom you ask.

“His comments are so negative and small, and just not very knowledgeable, and condescending,” said Peg Raney, 62, a registered Democrat from Jefferson. “He comes across as very racist.”

Dan Clark, a retired city administrator with a big “King for Congress” sign in his yard in Correctionville, interrupted his lunch to talk with a reporter. Asked whether he thought King, who is up once again for reelection this November, was racist, Clark physically recoiled. “No, no,” he said. “I’ve never heard anybody talking that he is. He was just a common, ordinary person, not a titled person of any kind before he was first elected, so that’s just kind of what we like.”

Over two decades in Washington, King – whose 2012 campaign slogan was “one wife, one house, and one church for 40 years” – has developed deep support in Iowa’s fourth congressional district, home to shining grain bins, picturesque farms and fading small towns.

Ask people why they like King, and they point to his relatability – “you understand what he says, and you know what he means” – and his reliability on issues such as opposing abortion and promoting corn-based ethanol fuel, two top perennial concerns in the Hawkeye state.

snip