After Rep. Steve King’s white nationalism finally got so blatant that Republicans decided to use him as a bit of a scapegoat, stripping him of committee assignments as if that made up for either the years they tolerated King or their silence on Donald Trump’s similar leanings, the Iowa congressman faces two strong electoral challenges in 2020: one from a Republican who was a King loyalist right up until he wasn’t any more, and one from a Democrat who came shockingly close to taking King out in 2018.
The Democrat in question is J.D. Scholten, and Mother Jones’ Tim Murphy followed him on the campaign trail to find out what that campaign looks like, and what a Democrat says to come within 3.5 points in a district that went for Trump by 27 points. “We rarely talk about Trump, rarely talk about King. We talk about what we’re for,” Scholten told Murphy.
Scholten is talking about some issues that are simultaneously local and shared by many rural areas around the country.
“If you go from Sioux City and take the next three towns east on Highway 20,” he told people at one event in the tiny town of Swaledale, “three of those have lost their grocery store in the last five years, and two of them have gained Dollar Generals.” Then the punchline: “If you want a BLT in Correctionville, Iowa, you either have to grow your own tomato or drive into Sioux City to get one.”
Scholten also focuses on consolidation of the agriculture industry—pork, in particular. “Smithfield…owns one in four hogs in Iowa and across this nation. The CEO of China Pork, who owns Smithfield, made $291 million in 2017. That’s more than Elon Musk. That’s more than the CEO of Apple. That’s crazy.”
His 2018 results showed that it’s a powerful message. But in 2020, Scholten may not face King in November. He may face a Republican like state Sen. Randy Feenstra, who will have—or can pretend to have—none of King’s baggage and capitalize on the district’s deep red tilt. As recently as October, though, King had an internal poll showing himself beating Feenstra and other challengers with room to spare. Either way, don’t count Scholten—or his message—out.
Check out Daily Kos’ interview with Scholten last summer: