A third challenger has announced his candidacy against nine-term Congressman Steve King for the 4th District Republican nomination. 

Jeremy Taylor, vice chairperson of the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors, announced Thursday he “opened a federal campaign committee for the Republican nomination of the 4th Congressional District in Iowa,” in a news release.

Taylor served in the Iowa House of Representatives from 2010 to 2012 and is currently serving his second term on the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors.

Additionally, Taylor serves as a captain in the Iowa National Guard’s 734th Regional Support Group and as an energy specialist for Sioux City Schools, according to the news release.

Though Taylor did not mention King by name in the press release, he said he intends to make his campaign about serving the people of the 4th District on a national level, “instead of focusing on past controversy.”

King has faced national criticism this month, stemming from controversial remarks he made in an interview with The New York Times on white supremacy. King was removed from all House committee appointments and condemned by state and national leaders for his views.

King’s removal briefly left Iowans without a seat on the House Agriculture Committee for the first time in 120 years before Rep. Cindy Axne, a freshman congresswoman from Iowa’s 3rd District, was appointed to the committee on Jan. 17.

King was nearly ousted from his seat in the 2018 election by Democratic candidate J.D. Scholten, who secured 47 percent of the votes.