Trump congratulates Randy Feenstra for unseating Rep. King
President Donald Trump on Wednesday congratulated Randy Feenstra for his victory over Rep. Steve King in Iowa’s Republican primary — an outcome that will unseat the incendiary nine-term congressman with a history of racist rhetoric.
“Congratulations to Randy Feenstra on your big win in the Iowa Republican Primary. You will be a great Congressman!” Trump wrote on Twitter.
Feenstra, a state senator, defeated King by a margin of nearly 10 points — 45.7 to 36 percent — with all precincts reporting early Wednesday morning, and has secured his party’s nomination to square off against Democrat J.D. Scholten in November.
King has represented Iowa’s 4th Congressional District in the northwestern part of the state since 2013, racking up a litany of offensive and sometimes racist remarks that eventually rendered him persona non grata among his Democratic colleagues and Republican congressional leadership.
Last January, King was stripped of his committee assignments after he defended the terms “white supremacist” and “white nationalist” in an interview with The New York Times, and the House overwhelmingly approved a rare resolution of disapproval rebuking him.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California agreed last month to let King formally make his case to the GOP steering committee for his committee assignments to be restored, but warned the Iowa lawmaker would not be able to resume his roles on the panels until the next Congress if his pitch was successful.
