Daily Caller reporter Henry Rodgers said Friday that he doesn’t think Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) will lose his reelection bid in the wake of recent controversial statements, which many have called racist.
“I do not. Polling today I think shows him ahead by a good 6 to 8 points, which I know is not anything crazy,” Rodgers, who covers Congress for the publication, told Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti on “Rising.”
Rodgers went on to slam a questioner at a town hall King hosted on Thursday who drew a connection between King’s rhetoric and the man accused of killing 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue last week.
“The real issue is what happened last night. He was compared to the Pittsburgh shooter,” he said. “I know Steve King has said some very controversial things in the past, has done some very controversial things in the past, which I cannot defend or agree with, but to compare someone to this synagogue shooter who killed 11 people last week, I think it’s completely out of line.”
“It’s on-point for the Democrats’ message as kind of attacking people in a very negative, harsh, very divisive way,” he added.
King hit back at the questioner at the town hall on Thursday, calling him an “ambusher.”
“I knew you were an ambusher when you walked in the room, but there is no basis for that and you get no question and you get no answer … You crossed the line. It is not tolerable to accuse me to be associated with a guy that shot 11 people in Pittsburgh,” King said.
The Iowa congressman has faced backlash for years over his controversial and racially charged comments.
Last week, he told The Washington Post that members of a Nazi-linked group in Austria, which was founded by a former SS officer, would be Republicans if they were American, defending his connection to the group.
And last month, the Iowa Republican endorsed a white nationalist in Toronto’s mayoral election.
King leads his Democratic opponent, J.D. Scholten, by 1 point, according to a recent survey by left-leaning firm Change Research.
— Julia Manchester
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