Iowa’s Powerful Conservative Newspaper Makes Unprecedented 2018 Endorsement

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Although there is barely a week until the midterm elections at this point, fault lines across the United States are continuing to be drawn. As Democrats seek to retake control of the U.S. House, they’ve found themselves with the support of a perhaps unlikely voice — the Sioux City Journal.

The newspaper has, for the apparent first time, endorsed the Democrat challenging eight term GOP Congressman Steve King. Democrat J.D. Scholten is running to replace King in Congress, who throughout his time in office has made a name for himself thanks to his frequent explicit calls to “save” Western civilization — which should be read as an effort to keep immigrants out.

The City Journal is sick of it. The paper sounds after a leader who will actually lead the people of their district instead of constantly carrying on about the need for white nationalism on the national and global stage.

They write:

‘As we have said before, we would prefer King spend less time trying to “save” Western civilization and making a national name for himself as a conservative leader trying to move the nation to the political right. We would rather he commit to becoming, say, a more influential congressional leader in agriculture.’

The City Journal has found someone who will step up where King has proven unwilling and/or unable time and time again — J.D. Scholten.

He’s not the “favorite” to win in the heavily Republican district, having come in plenty behind King in polling, but the paper believes Democrats and Republicans — and independents — can find common ground with his candidacy anyway.

They explain, in their piece that they say “wasn’t easy” to publish:

‘Bright, articulate, personable, possessed of deep roots in this district, informed about issues important to the 4th like agriculture, and armed with a willingness to consider all sides of complex issues such as illegal immigration and work across the aisle to identify solutions to problems, Scholten offers appeal for not only Democrats, but independents and Republicans, as well, we believe.’

Whether Scholten will be able to pull off a victory remains to be seen, for now. The Cook Political Report estimates a “likely Republican” victory — which isn’t as strong as they could be, with a level — “Solid Republican” — remaining above that.

Scholten is running in a national wave of Democratic candidates who hope to make a big splash once the midterms conclude and the votes are tallied. Although he might not be among them, dozens of new Democrats will likely be taking their place in the U.S. House come January 2019. FiveThirtyEight gives Democrats a 6 in 7 chance of pulling off the power shift at present.

In the meantime, Republicans like King continue to mire themselves in infamy. He recently endorsed a Canadian mayoral candidate widely perceived as a white nationalist, adding that to the list of questionable behavior from Republican candidates in the U.S. this year. An example of something similar might be Virginia U.S. Senate candidate Corey Stewart’s connections to documented white nationalists.

The connections raise the stakes of the midterms significantly.