[ad_1]
MONKS – Rep. Steve King, a Republican supporter of rural Iowa campaigns, accused of inflammatory racist remarks, was expecting to win an easy victory next week, like all of his previous eight races.
In the absence of radio or television ads and debates, his biggest presence in the campaign was a Facebook page specializing in liberal trolling with mocking memes.
But suddenly, the overlap of the Pittsburgh Synagogue pulled by a virulent anti-Semite and Mr. King's latest racist remarks, to a neo-Nazi-related publication, converged to add drama to a re-election bid that seemed formerly insured. .
Representative of the Republican House Army, Representative Steve Stivers of Ohio, sent an extraordinary reproach to Mr. King this week. Mr. Stivers said that Mr. King's recent tweets and remarks, including the approval of a Toronto mayoral candidate who had previously recited the 14-word manifesto used by the neo-Nazis, were tantamount to hate speech.
"We must stand up against white supremacy and hate in all its forms, and I strongly condemn this behavior," Stivers wrote.
On Thursday in Des Moines, King reacted angrily when he was accused of sharing the same ideology as the Pittsburgh shooter. He demanded that the man who made this suggestion be expelled from the candidates' forum.
In recognition of the warmth felt by King, his campaign released his first television commercial on Friday. (It turned out to be an expression of the pride and optimism of the country's heart, taken from its 2014 campaign.)
A public poll on Monday showed that King was leading his opponent, J.D. Scholten, by one point. After the news of the survey was broadcast on social media, Scholten from across the country was receiving money: $ 641,000 in 48 hours, said his campaign, enough to launch his own television ad 90 seconds, featuring farmers, mothers and farmers. others who, according to the campaign, are former supporters of the king.
Three large farming companies – Land O'Lakes, Purina and Smithfield – announced that they would no longer support King because his conduct did not represent their values. AT & T announced Friday that employees who manage the disbursements of its political action committee have decided not to make future contributions.
Douglas Burns, owner of the Carroll Daily Times Herald and other newspapers in the deeply conservative district of Mr. King, which President Trump won by 27 points, said the Republican base was still with Mr. King, who remains the favorite . But Mr Scholten was his first democratic challenger difficult to caricature as a layman or liberal. Mr. Scholten, 38, is a fifth Iowan player and former professional baseball player. He writes largely on his biography and not on his ideology.
"I think Scholten's strength is that it's an acceptable place for a lot of Republicans or Republican independents who can vote discontent," Burns said.
He added that Mr. King was leading the "laziest campaign" he had seen. "King is a natural political animal. He would like to participate in a debate, but he does not know. I do not understand why. "
Unlike Mr. King, who is often elusive, Mr. Scholten traveled 39 districts in a motorhome called Sioux City Sue, for Gene Autry's song, sleeping at night in Walmart parking lots, while accusing job holder to ignore his constituents. choose fights on behalf of the white nationalists.
"People have been frustrated by King for years, but they could not trust anyone else," said Scholten. "That's why we've done so much to educate the public." He stopped in the downtown area to meet voters from both parties rather than hold town halls attracting supporters.
The problems he is talking about are mainly the high cost of health care and the proper functioning of an agricultural economy for young people who continue to move away from it.
"Every time I refuel in this campervan, there is usually a donation box for someone who has just fallen ill or had an accident," he said. he declares. "We live in the richest country in the world and people have to beg to pay for their medical expenses."
In the past, the fourth district Iowans rolled their eyes or simply ignored Mr. King's controversial statements about undocumented immigrants or Muslims provoking national indignation. He was a Republican whose views on abortion, taxes, and gun rights were in line with voters in northwestern Iowa, the state's most conservative region. Two years ago, he was re-elected for an eighth term of 22 percentage points.
Senator Iowa Republican Senator Charles E. Grassley refused to discuss King on Friday during an election stage for Republican House Speaker David Young. "I do not want to pronounce words that would detract from the importance of re-electing Young," he said.
Nancy Trapolino, 34, a mother of two, from Arcadia, Iowa, works in a family business that makes agricultural machinery. She is likely to vote for King to keep the house in the hands of the Republicans. She approves the tax cuts passed last year and other Republican priorities.
"I have never found a runner against Steve King who gave me much hope," she said. "I think it's important to have a Republican Congress to achieve some of their goals."
Asked about her remarks in favor of the white nationalists, she replied, "I do not really have any comment."
The most fervent supporters of Mr. King have in the past accepted to deny being racist and agree with him that the media distorted his remarks.
But his latest comments and his latest actions come at a time when the nation's nerves are becoming more sensitive to hate speech after the Pittsburgh Massacre and the escalation of fiery rhetoric on the caravan of the United States. Central America directed to the United States by Mr. Trump, and his misleading online advertisement about an undocumented immigrant boasting of killing police officers.
Recently, King approved the candidacy of a white nationalist at Toronto City Hall. In the interview he gave to the far right publication in Austria, he accused the wealthy Democratic donor George Soros of seeking to replace white Europeans with immigrants. These comments follow a five-day visit that he made to Holocaust sites funded by a nonprofit group that educates legislators on the Nazi genocide.
In his Thursday appearance at Des Moines, King firmly rejected the link between his words and his actions and the anti-Semitic ideology of the Pittsburgh shooter.
In asserting that he "remained with Israel all along," he asked the organizers to dismiss the man who had suggested a link with the shooter, adding, "I don? do not listen to another word from you. "
"You're done, we do not play these games here in Iowa," he said.
On Friday, Scholten said his internal polls showed him more behind Mr. King than the poll showing a one-point race, but he is happy that attention is gaining recognition for his name, which has been a challenge for his campaign.
"We are simply saying that it is necessary in the fourth district to put in place a new moral leadership, which rejects white supremacy and racism," he said.
Source link
