(HorizonPost.com) – The controversial former Iowa Republican congressman Steve King on Tuesday threw his endorsement behind long-shot GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, Politico reported.
King, who was soundly rejected by Iowa voters in 2020 after being stripped of his committee seats over his frequent controversial comments about race, said in a statement to Politico that the biotech entrepreneur was the only Republican presidential candidate who opposed the CO2 pipelines in Iowa and “publicly” opposed “the climate change cult.”
King also praised Ramaswamy for being the only GOP candidate promising to pardon the “peaceful Jan 6 protesters on day 1” and bring an end to “birthright citizenship.”
Ramaswamy, who is currently lagging behind Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, and Nikki Haley in the Iowa polls, said that while most politicians are “sheep” when making endorsements, Steve King refuses to “do what he’s supposed to.” The GOP candidate described the former congressman as “America First before it was cool” and compared him to Pat Buchanan.
After repeated controversial remarks about white supremacy and immigration, King faced a 2020 primary challenge from then-state Senator Randy Feenstra. Feenstra obliterated King in the primary, 45.7 percent to 36.7 percent.
Before losing in the 2020 congressional primary, King alienated lawmakers from his own party over his controversial comments, primarily on race and immigration.
In a 2019 interview with the New York Times, King suggested that he didn’t understand why terms like “white nationalist,” Western civilization, and “white supremacist” were so offensive.
The blowback over the interview eventually led to bipartisan condemnation in the House and King’s removal from his committees, including the Judiciary Committee.
Like Steve King, Vivek Ramaswamy has also played coy with the fringes of the party, floating multiple conspiracies, including describing the January 6 riot as an “inside job.”
The Iowa caucuses are scheduled for Monday, January 15.
Copyright 2024, HorizonPost.com
