After telling members of the Republican National Committee that he was giving “serious consideration” to a third presidential bid, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney is receiving some encouragement from a prominent conservative voice in the House of Representatives.

Iowa Congressman Steve King—who is positioning himself as an influential figure in the 2016 Republican nominating fight—had positive things to say about the idea of another Romney presidential run in an interview with RealClearPolitics.

“Mitt Romney sees the picture on what it takes to get elected to the presidency,” King said. “He’s run campaigns in Iowa twice in the past, and if it’s in his head and his heart and he’s driven to do this, then that’s going to be good for our country that we will have the debate that will come from this.”

King is set to play host this Saturday to a slew of potential Republican White House hopefuls who are descending on Des Moines for an event co-hosted by the conservative group Citizens United.

The Iowa Freedom Summit will be the first major cattle call of the 2016 Republican campaign with likely White House contenders including Chris Christie, Scott Walker, Mike Huckabee, Ted Cruz, Rick Santorum and Ben Carson among those scheduled to speak to conservative activists in the nation’s first voting state.

King said he had invited Romney to attend but was initially told that the 2012 Republican presidential nominee would not be able to make it.

“We’ve re-offered the invitation and hope that he can logistically find a way,” King added.

A longtime aide to Romney did not respond to an inquiry about whether he might make a last-minute decision to attend the event.

Reaction among Republicans to the news that Romney is now moving toward jumping back into the presidential fray has been mixed, particularly among those in the party who have cited the strong field of likely contenders as a reason to look for fresh blood as the next GOP standard-bearer.

King, however, said it was “not for me to say” whether Romney’s prospective third White House bid would attract enough support for him to win the nomination again, and he had only positive things to say about the former governor and his family on a personal level.

“You get to know Mitt Romney and Ann and some of his family pretty well when they have criss-crossed Iowa,” King said. “Those boys have been to all 99 counties, and there’s not a single negative narrative about the five Romney sons who were, at the time they did this, were at the most robust age of post-adolescence.”

All of the potential White House hopefuls on hand in Des Moines this weekend will be aiming to impress King, a vocal critic of comprehensive immigration reform.

King, whose northwest Iowa district is the most conservative in the state, has indicated that he would like to endorse someone before the 2016 caucuses.

In 2008, King backed former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson, who ended up finishing third in that year’s Iowa caucuses, as his campaign failed to generate any steam.

King did not make an endorsement before the 2012 caucuses.

“I anticipated I would make an endorsement last time—I did not get to a conviction,” he said. “So this time, as much as I’d like to be able to say I plan on doing this, I have to tell people putting up a vote is one thing, making an endorsement is another. So I’ll have to see.”