Utah Sen. Mitt Romney said he would be supportive of a Republican primary challenge to Iowa Rep. Steve King, who narrowly won re-election in November. | Getty Images Congress Romney calls on Steve King to resign after white supremacy remarks

Mitt Romney, the freshman Utah senator and former Republican presidential nominee, said on Monday that Rep. Steve King should resign over his use of racist language in a recent New York Times interview.

“White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?” King said last week. Romney said King (R-Iowa) should “absolutely” resign because of the comments.


“He doesn’t have a place in our party, he doesn’t have a place in polite company and certainly should not have a place in Congress,” Romney said in a brief interview in the Senate basement on Monday.

Romney also said he would be supportive of a Republican primary challenge to King, who narrowly won reelection in November. The Iowa congressman already faces a primary challenge from Randy Feenstra, a Republican state senator.

“I’d back him getting out of Congress and getting out of our party, as well as a challenge politically,” Romney said.

Romney was the latest Republican to condemn King’s remarks. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also rebuked King’s remarks Monday afternoon, calling them “unwelcome and unworthy of his elected position.”