Iowa Republican Steve King's retweet of prominent Nazi sympathizer sparks controversy

Kevin Hardy | The Des Moines Register

Show Caption Hide Caption Steve King on campaign's Parkland meme: 'You really need to have a sense of humor to open up this Facebook page' U.S. Rep. Steve King says his campaign was using humor to make a political point when it posted a meme on its Facebook page suggesting Parkland mass shooting survivor Emma Gonzalez was betraying her Cuban heritage by advocating for gun control .

Iowa Republican Congressman Steve King has faced widespread condemnation for retweeting a Nazi sympathizer on Tuesday.

King recirculated a tweet from Mark Collett, a well known white supremacist in Britain.

Collett tweeted a screenshot of a story from conservative news site Breitbart titled "Vast majority of under-35 Italians now oppose mass migration. He added comment: "65% of Italians under the age of 35 now oppose mass immigration. Europe is waking up..."

King retweeted the post on Tuesday writing, "Europe is waking up...Will America...in time?"

Collett has described himself as a "Nazi sympathizer" and said he admires Adolf Hitler, according to USA Today.

Europe is waking up...Will America...in time? https://t.co/GqZ3E1lCyh — Steve King (@SteveKingIA) June 12, 2018

King's office could not immediately be reached for comment.

Sioux City Democrat J.D. Scholten, who will challenge King in the November general election, quickly questioned the congressman's motives.

"King spends more time pushing his extreme agenda and glorifying right wing nationalists overseas than he does working to help the people of this district," Scholten said in a statement. "Northwest Iowa deserves better."

More: J.D. Scholten wins Democratic bid to face U.S. Rep. Steve King in Iowa's 4th District

More: Steve King embracing Trump as he seeks re-election in crowded field

King, who is from Kiron, represents the 4th Congressional District, Iowa's most heavily Republican congressional district. It covers 39 counties in northwest and north-central Iowa.

Tess Seger, communications director for the Iowa Democratic Party, sent a fundraising email early Wednesday morning, including King's tweet in her call for donations.

"Just when we thought Steve King couldn't get any worse, he's now cozying up to a Nazi sympathizer," Seger wrote.

Twitter users pointed out that King is among the co-chairs leading Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds' election campaign.

The governor has opted to keep King in place during previous controversies.

In December, King came under fire for saying that "diversity is not our strength." He quoted Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban as saying, “Mixing cultures will not lead to a higher quality of life but a lower one.”

At the time, Reynolds told reporters "I strongly, strongly disagree with that statement. I don’t believe that is reflective of Iowans."

More: Iowa Gov. Reynolds will keep Steve King as campaign co-chair

But the governor added that she has a host of campaign co-chairs, including U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, both Iowa Republicans. And she showed no appetite for getting rid of King.

"I am not going to agree with everything that they have to say," Reynolds said. "And I can certainly make it known when I don’t agree with a comment that they made. But I also want to be able to work with them on really important issues for Iowans. A lot of things happen in this state and this country."