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Perhaps in more than any other race here in the Hawkeye State, conservatives are talking about a write-in effort in the Fourth Congressional District.

This has been spurred on by social media posts from current and former county GOP chairs across the district. Numerous county chairs have expressed concern with Sen. Randy Feenstra’s campaign as he seeks to replace Congressman Steve King in Washington D.C.

As someone who has elected to use the ‘write-in’ option in previous races, I wouldn’t criticize anyone for doing so if they felt that was what their conscience is telling them to do. At the end of the day, it is your vote and you are the one who will have to answer for it one day.

Much of the reason for the write-in campaign seems to be how things played out in the primary election. The majority of voters had not voted in any of the last four GOP primaries or only voted once in the last four primaries. Due to the absentee ballot request forms being sent to every eligible voter, it really altered the electorate of the Fourth District.

More than that, there was bad blood between King and Feenstra from the moment Feenstra announced. Feenstra had told Jeff King, Congressman King’s son, that he would never challenge his father. Not long after that, Feenstra jumped in the race.

Not only did Feenstra jump in the race, but he essentially piled on every criticism the Left had leveled against Congressman King. While every other challenger in the primary said they believed Congressman King over the New York Times, Feenstra refused to answer.

Feenstra went on CNN with Don Lemon and asked his audience to consider donating to his campaign. Feenstra took money from a PAC that support red-flag gun laws and stumbled his way through explaining it to WHO’s Simon Conway. Feenstra refused to criticize National Right to Life for not supporting the federal Heartbeat bill. Feenstra was also supported by the Chamber of Commerce, which isn’t typically considered a conservative organization.

In addition, it was the moderate, Never-Trump wing of the Republican Party cheering Feenstra on all the way. That’s not to say there weren’t good conservative folks supporting Feenstra also — but there was no doubt where all the moderate, Never-Trumpers were.

David Kochel tops that list. Kochel has been a huge proponent of same-sex marriage for more than a decade. He has a deep-seated hatred for Congressman King and took more delight than anyone when King lost.

I make no bones, if Kochel supports a candidate, conservatives should run away. Here is why. And here. I will stand by that principle forever unless Kochel somehow acknowledges his mistake and repents.

Now, here’s where things get really complicated for conservatives who loathe the idea of a Speaker Nancy Pelosi but aren’t jumping up and down to vote for Feenstra.

The GOP Establishment is always preaching “party unity.” Of course, when King had a close call with Scholten two years ago, there weren’t calls for “party unity” for all the Republicans in the Fourth District who voted for Gov. Kim Reynolds but did not vote for King.

Party unity appears to be a one-way street.

The rub was the spiking of the football.

Ronna McDaniel, chairwoman of the GOP, tweeted out congratulations to Feenstra. She added:

“Steve King’s white supremacist rhetoric is totally inconsistent with the Republican Party, and I’m glad Iowa Republicans rejected him at the ballot box.”

Sara Craig Gongol, chief of staff for Gov. Kim Reynolds, tweeted a bottle of champaign being uncorked with:

“Guys. It has been a loooonnnggg couple of months. But finally. FINALLY some good news,” shortly after results of the Fourth District primary were announced.

So, let’s unpack this…

Congressman Steve King took a stand on just about every issue voters in Iowa’s Fourth Congressional District wanted him to take a stand for. He undoubtedly pushed the district further to the right. He made it more conservative.

Congressman King has been willing to lead the fight for the unborn, he led the fight for biblical marriage and he leads the way for law and order. He also is unapologetically proud of America and its history.

He provided nearly two decades of service in Congress. And while claims of “racist” and “white supremacist” follow him because of the media, never has a single person ever come forward and accuse King of doing or saying something racist in a private, closed-door meeting in D.C. And I’m sure he’s had one or two of those where minorities were present.

In fact, when the Tanzanian Miracle Children needed help in order to save their lives, Congressman Steve King played an integral part in making sure they received they help they needed.

He may be one of the worst “racists” in history.

Worse yet, since the primary, there has been no olive branch extended. Feenstra, to our knowledge, has not asked Congressman King for his support or thanked him for his years of service.

In fact, when Feenstra found out that Congressman King would speak at the Sioux County GOP fundraiser, he said he would not attend the fundraiser if King was not uninvited. And it is said that he insinuated that Gov. Reynolds and Sen. Joni Ernst wouldn’t show up either if King were in attendance.

That prompted former Sioux County GOP chair Tammy Kobza to resign and, instead of Sidney Powell speaking in Sioux County this past weekend, she spoke in Dickinson County. If you’re wondering, King was in attendance and did introduce Powell.

Feenstra, Reynolds and Ernst were not in attendance.

Sam Clovis said recently “they found an opportunistic candidate in Randy Feenstra and they put out, all this outside money came in. And it wasn’t the Fourth District that picked Randy, it was outside money.”

Congressman King noted in the Sioux City Journal that Iowa’s Fourth district is the “epicenter” of the battle against the Swamp.

“You’ve seen attack ads and mailers paid for by billionaire coastal global elites. And these are the people who now own Randy Feenstra,” King said.

So where does that leave conservatives in Iowa’s Fourth District? It leaves them with a few choices.

  1. Vote for Feenstra. He’s a Republican and he’ll likely vote exactly how we want him to vote. The concern, though, is what he won’t do. It isn’t likely he’ll challenge Party leadership, especially considering all the help they provided to win the seat.
  2. Write-in Steve King. Feenstra is going to win this seat. If there were ever a “safe” opportunity to put forth a “write-in” vote, this is it. Many conservatives are not happy with how the Republican Party leadership handled this situation. When a good, Christian, conservative man was being attacked, Feenstra and the establishment piled on. When injustice was being done, they didn’t stand up for King, they simply took advantage.
  3. Vote for Scholten. It’s a choice. As in, it can happen. Whether that can happen with a clear conscience is up to the voter. At the end of the day, Scholten is going to defend abortion rights and champion LGBTQ insanity.
  4. Not vote in the race at all. Under vote, as they call it. Leave the ballot blank.

I am not going to make any recommendation for anyone — as I said earlier, it’s your vote, your conscience and you will be the one to answer for it.

I’ve seen the debate — writing in King is a vote for Scholten. On the other side, we’ve had enough with the GOP leadership and if we end up with a Democrat for two years rather than an establishment Republican for 20 years they’ll take it.

Often people will say that if Feenstra screws up, then primary him in two years. Here is the problem with that line of thinking — it’s shortsighted.

He’ll vote the right way. I have all the confidence in the world that Feenstra will vote the right way. But our district needs to send someone who will do more than just vote the right way. It has to be someone who is a real bulldog and will not just stand up to the Left, but also the establishment Republicans in leadership. We won’t know what we’re missing out on in that regard.

Also, in Iowa’s Third District, former Congressman David Young was in a primary with Bill Schafer. However, the Party didn’t treat that like a primary at all. Young for Congress signs were plastered in the GOP offices in West Des Moines before a primary vote was cast. Schafer wasn’t given an opportunity to debate.

There was no primary.

So, no, you can’t just “primary him in two years” because the Party won’t let you, and if you do, it won’t allow it to be a legitimate primary.

Here is some reality — this is one seat out of 435. The Republican winning this seat isn’t going to save our country and the Democrat winning it won’t give away our country. It’s one out of 435.

Now, if we wake up the day after Election Day and Scholten wins this seat somehow (not going to happen) and Democrats have a one-member advantage in the U.S. House, then I guess I’m wrong.

But, and this is a big but, do you really think a one-seat advantage for Republicans would result in a much different U.S. House? Republicans tend to send far more “moderates” than the Democrats do.

At the end of the day establishment Republicans axed Steve King because King is unapologetically Christian, pro-life, pro-border security, pro-Constitution, pro-rule of law and shares many similarities with Donald J. Trump.

King will tell you what he’s thinking. His word is his bond. And he wouldn’t break it.

And the establishment Republicans in the Swamp could not control King.

Worse, the establishment Republicans know the playbook now and will use it in the future. When a Republican doesn’t kiss the ring, the playbook will be dusted off and executed to perfection.

At the end of the day I understand why so many are writing in Steve King. I also understand why many more will be voting for Feenstra.

Each voter has to decide what they think is best and aligns with their conscience.

Now is not the time to surrender control of anything in our government to Democrats, but now also is certainly not the time to stab men like Steve King in the back.

No matter what happens, Randy Feenstra is going to be the next Congressman from Iowa’s Fourth District.

The question is, does he win by five percent, 15 percent or 25 percent?

Author: Jacob Hall

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