Controversial former U.S. Rep. Steve King endorses Vivek Ramaswamy for president in Iowa

Iowa's former controversial congressman, Steve King, has endorsed Vivek Ramaswamy for president.

The endorsement of King, who lost a re-election bid in 2020 after being widely condemned for his approving comments about white supremacy and white nationalism, comes less than two weeks before the Iowa Caucuses, with Ramaswamy struggling to gain momentum in a contested Republican field.

In a statement released by his campaign Tuesday, Ramaswamy said "most people are sheep when it comes to endorsements," but not King, who he called "America First before it was cool."

"The likes of Steve King and Pat Buchanan were the OGs," Ramaswamy said. "He doesn’t back down from a fight, and he certainly doesn’t bow to the establishment."

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King has in recent weeks joined Ramaswamy at events in Iowa, having become an active voice during carbon capture pipeline hearings as the author and entrepreneur criticizes eminent domain on the campaign trail.

Ramaswamy said the two had found "common cause on countless issues where other Republicans are too afraid to stand up," including opposition to pipelines, ending birthright citizenship and "making English the national language."

“Vivek Ramaswamy is going to shock the world at the Iowa Caucus because he is the only candidate in this race who’s had the courage to oppose the CO2 pipelines here in Iowa, to publicly oppose the climate change cult, to commit to pardon peaceful Jan. 6 protestors on Day 1, and to end birthright citizenship for kids of illegals in this country,” King said in a statement.

King, who represented northwest Iowa in the U.S. House from 2003 to 2021 before losing a primary election to U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, was the subject of a 2019 House resolution that condemned him for comments he made in an interview about immigration policy and politics. He was stripped of his committee assignments, while arguing the backlash against him as an orchestrated campaign.

"White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?" King said in an interview at the time.

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Before his defeat, King had brought years of controversy to the district — opposing abortion ban exceptions for rape and incest because "would there be any population of the world left if we did that?"; meeting with members of a far-right Austrian political party associated with neo-Nazi movements while on a trip funded by a Holocaust memorial nonprofit; and in 2008 saying that al-Qaeda "would be dancing in the streets" for a Barack Obama presidency.

Ramaswamy earned 5% of first-choice support in December's Iowa Poll, struggling to gain traction despite racking up more than 200 campaign events and visiting every county in Iowa twice.

In recent weeks he has touted debunked conspiracy theories on the debate stage and in Iowa, claiming falsely that the Jan. 6 riots were "an inside job" and that the U.S. government lied about Saudi Arabia's involvement in 9/11.

“What was a conspiracy theory yesterday becomes truth tomorrow,” Ramaswamy said in December. “That's not the way a government leads a country. It's not the way a president should lead the country. And as I said on the debate stage, if you want somebody who's going to go in there and speak truth to power in the deep state, then vote for somebody who's going to speak the truth to you. And sometimes the truth is uncomfortable.”

Galen Bacharier covers politics for the Register. Reach him at gbacharier@registermedia.com or (573) 219-7440, and follow him on Twitter @galenbacharier.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa Caucuses: Former U.S. Rep. Steve King backs Vivek Ramaswamy