MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
This is the week members of Congress voted almost unanimously to condemn their colleague, Steve King. The move was in response to the Iowa Republican’s defense of the terms white nationalist and white supremacist in a New York Times interview. Now, as Iowa Public Radio’s Katie Peikes reports, King’s constituents in western Iowa are pondering his political future.
KATIE PEIKES, BYLINE: It’s breakfast time at the day J&J Cafe in the northwest Iowa city of Le Mars. At a table, there’s a group of friends who meet daily to settle the world’s problems. Today, they’re talking about Steve King. Dennis Asche and Dennis Toel have both voted for him in the past and say he’s been treated unfairly.
DENNIS TOEL: You know, there’s no freedom of speech anymore. That’s why there’s – that’s why they started this country, freedom of speech, freedom of religion and all that stuff. And now you can’t talk anymore.
PEIKES: Two big Iowa newspapers have called on King to step down, but Asche says King should keep his seat.
DENNIS ASCHE: Why? Because the voters, they put him in there, that’s why. We voted him in there.
PEIKES: But their friend, Walt Kleinhesselink, is not so sure.
WALT KLEINHESSELINK: I think he’s been in there plenty long.
PEIKES: King has represented this corner of…
