Steve King opponent gets last-second deluge of cash
Democrat J.D. Scholten, the former baseball player challenging GOP Rep. Steve King in Iowa, has seen a last second wave of cash come his way as King has sparked new controversy this fall.
Scholten raised over $641,000 on Tuesday and Wednesday alone, his campaign shared with POLITICO. The fundraising spike came after a poll published Tuesday by the Democratic firm Change Research found Scholten within 1 percentage point of King. (The King campaign released an internal poll showing the Republican leading by a comfortable 18 points.)
“The poll definitely broke a dam,” said Irene Lin, Scholten’s campaign manager. “People thought, ‘Oh my God, Steve King can actually be beaten?’”
Lin said that Scholten’s campaign would launch a late television ad blitz with the money. Scholten will air a two-minute biographical ad over the weekend and on Monday, and Lin said she hopes to have it run during high-profile TV shows like “Ellen” or the “TODAY Show.”
The ad leans heavily on the movie “Field of Dreams,” ending with the tagline “if you build it, they will come.”
King’s associations with white nationalism, including meeting with members of a far-right Austrian political party that has historical ties to Nazism along with retweeting a Nazi sympathizer, have drawn harsh criticism and renewed scrutiny this fall.
Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio), the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, rebuked King on Tuesday.
“Congressman Steve King’s recent comments, actions, and retweets are completely inappropriate,” Stivers wrote. “We must stand up against white supremacy and hate in all forms, and I strongly condemn this behavior.”
A spokesperson for the Republican campaign committee said on Tuesday that it will not spend in King’s race.
King has long represented an all-but-safe Republican seat in northwest Iowa, which he regularly wins by double-digit margins. King’s campaign has been largely dormant before this election, only preparing to air its first TV ads this week, according to data from Advertising Analytics.
The King campaign did not immediately return a request for comment.
Natasha Korecki contributed to this report.