Romney calls on Steve King to resign after white supremacy remarks

Mitt Romney, the freshman Utah senator and former Republican presidential nominee, said on Monday that Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) should resign over his use of racist language in a recent New York Times interview.

“White nationalist, white supremacist, Western civilization — how did that language become offensive?” King said last week. Romney said King should “absolutely” resign because of the comments.

“He doesn’t have a place in our party, he doesn’t have a place in polite company and certainly should not have a place in Congress,” Romney said in a brief interview in the Senate basement on Monday.

Romney also said he would be supportive of a Republican primary challenge to King, who narrowly won re-election in November. The Iowa congressman already faces a primary challenge from Randy Feenstra, a Republican state senator.

“I’d back him getting out of Congress and getting out of our party, as well as a challenge politically,” Romney said.

Romney was the latest Republican to condemn King’s remarks. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also rebuked King’s remarks Monday afternoon, calling them “unwelcome and unworthy of his elected position.”

Article originally published on POLITICO Magazine

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