Steve King is bad news for his party, a fact that was illustrated again this week when the co-chairman of the Polk County Republican Party in Iowa resigned his position and registered as an independent.
Chad Brown told the Des Moines Register that anti-immigrant comments from Steve King—like the recent claim that most DREAMers are actually drug smugglers with “calves the size of cantaloupes”—are what caused him to leave the GOP.
“No one’s really stood out to fight him on those,” Brown said. “I think they’re hateful statements.”
Brown, in his resignation letter, also wrote about his belief that the GOP is heading in the wrong direction, following the 2012 presidential election where Mitt Romney was walloped by Latino voters—yet his Party has yet to get serious about better reaching out to those voters. As Brown said, “It’s my opinion that rather than fix the problems that led to such a massive 2012 defeat, the GOP does not seem to seriously want to fix the issues. I think helping a dysfunctional Party that does not want to address its problems is enabling.”
King’s position against immigrants and DREAMers have put him at odds with many of his own constituents, 65% of whom support immigration reform with a path to citizenship.
