Seven-term U.S. Rep. Steve King says ethanol is the root cause of the challenge he faces in the Republican primary election to represent northwestern Iowa in the U.S. House. During the “Iowa Press” program on Iowa Public Television, King said it was a “a fair statement” that he attracted opposition because he supported Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the presidential caucuses. Cruz supported a five-year phase-out of the federal requirement to use biofuels. Iowa is the No. 1 corn and ethanol state. “They [ethanol groups] started this fight,” King said. “Ted Cruz didn’t want to have this fight or this argument. They forced it.”
Cruz won the caucuses and inspired speculation about the future of the Renewable Fuels Standard. King said he supports Cruz for president — “he’s a full-spectrum, constitutional, Christian conservative — and that it was wrong to fault Cruz on ethanol. “I say we have to have far higher ideals than that.” Cruz “already knows he has to fight me” if he tries to phase-down the RFS, said King.
State Sen. Rick Bertrand, who is running against King in the June 7 primary, says King neglects his district in favor of burnishing a national reputation. King says he spends plenty of time in the district: “I want to take our Iowa values and project them to the rest of the country because we want our values in the Oval Office.”
Iowa Agriculture Secretary Bill Northey endorsed King on Saturday at the Republican Fourth District convention in Fort Dodge, said KTIV-TV of Sioux City.