Steve King primary opponent says he has qualified for the Republican primary ballot

Hannah Olson/Iowa State Daily

Voting booths sit empty in the Fire Service Training Bureau, polling place for the voting precinct that includes Frederiksen Court residents, on Nov. 7, 2017. The next Republican primary for Iowa’s 4th Congressional District will be held June 2, 2020, incumbent Rep. Steve King faces several challengers.

Jake Webster

The race for the Republican nomination in Iowa’s 4th Congressional District includes multiple candidates, with incumbent Rep. Steve King, R-Storm Lake, facing his first primary challengers since he first ran for the House in 2002.

The district covers much of northwestern Iowa, including Story County. The Republican candidates in the race are veteran Bret Richards, former Iowa Rep. and current Woodbury County Supervisor Jeremy Taylor, Sen. Randy Feenstra, R-Hull and King, the incumbent.

Richards’s campaign announced Monday he is the first candidate “to gather the necessary signatures to have his name placed on the 2020 Republican primary ballot.”

“Everyday Iowans are able to solve big challenges and get things done because they listen to and work with others. That’s a big part of what Iowa values are,” Richards said in a press release. “I’ll take true Iowa values to Congress and focus on the work that needs to get done.”

So far in the 2020 campaign cycle, Richards has raised $70,780, Taylor has raised $68,039 Feenstra has raised $400,893 and King has raised $153,203, according to Federal Election Commission filing documents.

The only Democratic candidate to file for the race is the party’s 2018 nominee, J.D. Scholten, who came within 4% of unseating King in that election.