Iowa Representative Steve King has lost
his GOP primary race in Iowa.
King lost to Iowa state Senator Randy
Freenstra, who claimed 45.7 percent of the vote to King's 36 percent,
the AP reported.
King has a long history of voting
against LGBT rights and making anti-LGBT statements. He also has a
history of embracing white nationalism and opposing immigrants.
Last year, the U.S. House approved a
resolution rebuking King for suggesting that he was in favor of white
nationalism. He also lost his committee assignments over the remarks.
King scored zero on the Human Rights
Campaign's (HRC) latest Congressional Scorecard, a measure of a
lawmaker's support for LGBT rights. He also scored zero during the
114th and 113th congressional sessions.
In 2017, King suggested transgender
troops only enlist to get free surgery. He is also strongly
opposed to marriage equality, saying separately that the Supreme
Court's 2015 ruling legalizing same-sex unions means
“you can marry my lawnmower” and predicted
it would lead to civil war.
In a 2011 interview, he proudly
insisted that he's opposed to marriage equality.
(Related: Steve
King sets the record straight: He's anti-gay marriage.)
Feenstra also is opposed to LGBT
rights. While in the Iowa Senate, he introduced a bill that sought to
reverse marriage equality in the state and voted for a measure that
prohibited transgender surgeries under Medicaid.