Do you really want to retain a slim majority in the House with Rep. Steve King on your side? The National Republican Congressional Committee says no thanks.
Despite their majority in the House at stake next Tuesday, the NRCC says it will not help out King, who has supported far-right causes and white supremacists, in the remaining days of his bid to win re-election to his Iowa 4th District seat against Democratic challenger J.D. Scholten.
The NRCC cited King’s “words and actions” for its decision to sit out the race, despite the fact that Republicans in Tuesday’s congressional elections will be hard-pressed to retain their relatively slim majority in the House of Representatives.
Matt Gorman, spokesman for the NRCC, told Fox News “the NRCC and Congressman Stivers haven’t been afraid to show moral leadership when the time calls for it.”
“We believe Congressman King’s words and actions are completely inappropriate and we strongly condemn them. We will not play in his race,” he added.
Congressman Steve King’s recent comments, actions, and retweets are completely inappropriate. We must stand up against white supremacy and hate in all forms, and I strongly condemn this behavior.
— Steve Stivers (@RepSteveStivers) October 30, 2018
King fired back at the NRCC in a tweet that said “Establishments Never Trumpers” are complicit with enemies of President Donald Trump in the effort to “flip the House” and impeach the president.
One of King’s Republican colleagues in the House, Rep. Carlos Curbelo of Florida, in an interview today said, “I would never cast a ballot for someone like Steve King,” even if it meant the loss of GOP control of the House.
“My principles are more important than any of that,” Curbelo said. “His comments and his actions are disgusting.”
King for years has engaged in language viewed as racist.
He once described former President Barack Obama, who is black, as “very, very urban.”
He has displayed a Confederate flag on his desk, and once predicted “that Hispanics and the blacks will be fighting each other before” their combined population exceeded the number of whites in the United States.
Earlier this month, King tweeted an endorsement of far-right Toronto mayoral candidate Faith Goldy, who has appeared on a neo-Nazi podcast.
Nonpartisan analysis site Cook Political Report recently shifted its outlook on the 4th District to “lean Republican,” a notch down from “likely Republican,” after a Democratic poll found King’s opponent trailing by just 1 percentage point.
King also has been massively outfundraised by Scholten, who has garnered more than $1.7 million in contributions against the incumbent’s nearly $740,000.
And King will be getting less money from now on.
The political newsletter Popular Information, on Sunday revealed that after it highlighted King’s rhetoric, Intel informed employees that it would no longer donate to King.
“We looked into the congressman’s public statements and determined that they conflict with Intel values,” Dawn Jones, the company’s director of policy and external partnerships, wrote in an email obtained by Popular Information.
The mass murder Saturday of 11 Jewish worshipers at a Pittsburgh synagogue by a gunman, who allegedly told police “I just want to kill Jews,” ramped up pressure on King’s backers to drop him.
Two other companies followed Intel’s lead Tuesday.
The political action committees of dairy products giant Land O’Lake and Purina, the pet-food subsidiary of Nestle, bowed to online pressure and announced they would not longer support King.
Our PAC contributions are typically made to elected officials from both parties who represent the local communities where we have operations and associates. Representative King’s recent statements are in conflict with our values and we are no longer contributing to his campaign.
— Purina (@Purina) October 30, 2018
— Land O'Lakes, Inc. (@LandOLakesInc) October 30, 2018