In the run-up to election day, Steve King reminded voters exactly who he is. The now nine-term representative is possibly the most openly racist member of congress, and, rather than attempt to distance himself from his bigoted history before the midterms, he decided to really double down. On Monday, he denounced the National Republican Congressional Committee for supporting a candidate who has “a sex-same partner that they put all over glossy mailers.”

“I don’t know if they were holding hands, or what was the deal,” he told his assembled constituents. “It’s hard to write a check to those guys when they do that.” That same day, he professed his hope that Supreme Court Justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor “elope to Cuba.” Fresh off this spate of homophobia, King went on to eke out a narrow victory—50.4 percent to 47 percent of the vote—over his Democratic challenger, political newcomer J.D. Scholten.



King has never had much use for dog whistles or coded language. He simply says and does indisputably hateful things. Over the course of this election year alone, he gave an interview to a publication that was literally founded by a Nazi, endorsed a candidate for Toronto mayor who’s running on a platform of preventing “white genocide,” and said that he wouldn’t want Muslims working in his district’s pork plants.

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And those are just his recent notable quotables—King’s greatest racist hits stretch back years, and include his saying that Dreamers have “calves the size of cantaloupes” from “hauling 75 pounds of marijuana across the desert,” questioning where “any other subgroup” besides white people “contribute[d] to civilization,” and tweeting that we can’t restore our civilization with “somebody else’s babies.” He was a decade ahead of Donald Trump in advocating for a border barrier, but instead of a wall, he wanted to build an electric fence that would shock migrants who attempt to climb it. “We do that with livestock all the time,” he explained.

Indeed, King’s racism is a feature of his political life, not a bug. His sole achievement as a legislator was the renaming of a post office 15 years ago. He’s not out making change for Iowans; he’s busy traveling the world befriending white supremacists. As a public figure, King is a basically as irredeemable as it gets, and yet he was reelected.

How does an out-and-out racist win nine elections to federal office? That he represents an aging, racially homogenous, and largely rural district certainly helps. Iowa's 4th district is very red and very white, with nearly 190,000 registered Republicans, 120,000 Democrats and 172,000 independents. Fewer than 5 percent of residents describe themselves as being people of color. Meanwhile, Iowa has seen has seen an influx of immigrant agricultural workers in recent years, triggering the sort of race panic that the likes of Trump and King have used to their political gain. The best chance at ousting King in from this red district likely died with his June primary victory over his poorly-funded and little known Republican challenger, educator Dr. Cyndi Hanson. In one three month period, Hanson’s campaign raised $5,771, while King’s raised $87,543.



J.D. Scholten Congressional Quarterly Getty Images

J.D. Scholten proved a far worthier challenger during the general election. A former pitcher in the minor leagues and a fifth-generation Iowan, Scholten ran on a “kitchen table” platform of infrastructure, tax reform for the middle class, and supporting fair trade policies for farmers who’ve been hurt by Trump’s trade war. He also brought in a ton of money, out-raising King 2:1 over the course of the election, including $900,000 from more than 30,000 donors within the last ten days.

The race further tightened in the wake of the anti-Semitic mass murder at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, as voters called upon Republicans to denounce one of the two loudest hate-mongers in their midst. The chair of National Republican Congressional Committee—the body that King would later criticize for supporting a gay candidate—tweeted a condemnation of King, and his corporate donors fled. But the party didn’t unite in disowning the congressman. Speaker Paul Ryan refused to refute King's statements, while Iowa senator Chuck Grassley made a video endorsing him. The Republican strategy of largely standing by their man seems to have worked.

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Congressman Steve King’s recent comments, actions, and retweets are completely inappropriate. We must stand up against white supremacy and hate in all forms, and I strongly condemn this behavior. — Steve Stivers (@RepSteveStivers) October 30, 2018

Journalists have tried to get to the heart of how King keeps winning, writing the sorts of profiles of Trump country that have become familiar since 2016. While some voters rebuked him, many others were willing to go on record dismissing or endorsing King’s worst statements. “There isn’t a racist bone in King’s body,” one of his constituents told Politico. “We are a nation based on Western values. I think Steve King is courageous to do it. Some cultures are better than others.”



Gabrielle Bruney Gabrielle Bruney is a writer and editor for Esquire, where she focuses on politics and culture.

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