Eight-time incumbent Steve King retains district seat

Congressman+Steve+King+speaks+at+the+end+of+the+Roast+and+Ride+fundraiser+June+3%2C+2017%2C+in+Boone%2C+Iowa.

Congressman Steve King speaks at the end of the Roast and Ride fundraiser June 3, 2017, in Boone, Iowa.

Isd Staff

Steve King won his fourth term as Iowa’s representative for the 4th congressional district Tuesday night.

King won 50.69 percent of the vote when the race was called in his favor at 11:35 p.m, beating Democratic contender J.D. Scholten, who received 46.6 percent of the vote and Libertarian Charles Aldrich, who received 2.01 percent.

King, a Storm Lake, Iowa, native, has represented Iowa in different congressional districts since 2002. He currently serves on the judiciary, agriculture and small business committees. King has made waves in recent years as a proponent of immigration reform and as a pro-life advocate.

King rejected Scholten’s debate challenges leading up to the election and did not air any television campaign ads until Friday.

King has come under fire recently for meeting with a far-right Austrian political party with historical ties to Nazis. This caused Purina, Intel and Land o’ Lakes to discontinue their support of King.

Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio), who chairs the National Republican Congressional Committee, publicly condemned King’s “recent comments, actions and retweets” as “completely inappropriate” in a tweet on Oct. 30.

When Scholten called King to concede, he said he hopes the congressman will represent the district in a respectable manner.

Healthcare reform has been a top issue for King.

King often referred to Obamacare as a “disaster,” and wants to see the program completely defunded. In turn, he would see a health care system that relied more on private insurance agencies providing care.

“We should allow individuals to purchase their insurance across state lines,” according to King’s website. “I believe we must increase the attractiveness and use of health savings accounts and end the tax discrepancy between individuals who purchase their own insurance and those who get health care insurance through their employees.”

King also supports legislation which would allow small businesses to pool together and search for health insurance together, reducing the individual risk upon each of the businesses.

In 2007, he voted ‘no’ on a bill which required the secretary of health and human services to negotiate the prices of of prescription drugs with pharmaceutical companies.

He’s staunchly pro-life, and sponsored the Heartbeat Protection Act, which would make all abortions illegal after six to eight weeks, when a fetal heartbeat is detected.

“It should be the goal of any pro-life person to end abortion,” King said in an interview with the Global Catholic Network. “Human life is sacred in all its forms, and that life begins at conception.”