Rep. Steve King (R) Elected 2002, 2d term
Born:	May 28, 1949, Storm Lake
Home:	Kiron
Education:	NW MO St. U., 1967-70
Religion:	Catholic
Marital Status:	married (Marilyn)
Elected  Office:	IA Senate, 1996-2002.
Professional Career:	Construction co. owner, 1975-2002.
DC Office	1432 LHOB20515, 202-225-4426; Fax: 202-225-3193; Web site: www.house.gov/steveking
State Offices	Council Bluffs, 712-325-1404; Sioux City, 712-224-4692; Storm Lake, 712-732-4197.
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Sioux City, one of the oldest market towns on the Great Plains, is situated picturesquely, nestled below and running up the loess bluffs above the Missouri River. Although still the largest city on the Plains west of Des Moines and north of Omaha, Sioux City has not grown much in the past five decades. Its original economic base has become obsolete, and so has some of the city itself: The waterfront, once raucous with boatmen and stockyard workers, is now quiet; the downtown stores have been replaced by shopping malls at the edge of town where people still spend a day doing a season's shopping and then drive for hours back home. The stockyards, which employed thousands and slaughtered millions of hogs during their peak years in the 1920s, have closed. But there are still many hogs in western Iowa, more than anywhere else in the nation. Instead of meeting sellers in the markets of the Sioux City stockyard, packers now contract directly with large farms and build their modern slaughterhouses nearby; Tyson Foods has facilities in Buena Vista and Crawford Counties.

The congressman from the 5th District is Steve King, a Republican who won the open seat in 2002. He was born in Storm Lake in western Iowa and attended Northwest Missouri State University. He founded the King Construction Company in 1975. He began his political career in 1996, at 47, when he was elected to the state Senate where he quickly gained a reputation as a conservative's conservative. He opposed abortion, racial quotas and preferences and same-sex marriage. He sponsored Iowa's "God and Country" bill, which would require Iowa schools to recognize that the United States "has derived its strength from biblical values," and was a driving force behind the state's English-only law. In 2000, King filed suit to repeal Governor Tom Vilsack's executive order banning workplace discrimination based on sexual orientation. On economic matters, King was just as resolute. He supported repeal of the state's inheritance tax, backed a 15% state income tax reduction and a national right-to-work law.

In 2002 there were four main contenders in the Republican primary. King ran as a strong conservative and the only rural candidate and called for limiting federal control over local schools. King led in the June primary with 30% of the vote. Because nobody received the required 35% of the primary vote, the nomination was determined by a special party convention three weeks later. The 533 voting delegates needed three ballots to select a winner. King led on each ballot and defeated House Speaker Brent Siegrist of Council Bluffs 272-253 in the final round, marking the first time in 38 years that Iowans used a convention to select a congressional nominee. The general election outcome was never in doubt. Democrat Paul Shomshor attempted to paint King as too conservative for the district, and won the endorsement of the Omaha World-Herald--perhaps because his home city of Council Bluffs had not elected a member to Congress since the 1920s--but he fell far short, 62%-38%. National Review called King the "Great Right Hope."

In the House, King has a firmly conservative record and became the most conservative member of the Iowa delegation, but he did not emerge as the outspoken leader that some had expected. He voted for the 2003 Medicare/prescription drug bill, which contained higher Medicare reimbursement rates for Iowa. He characterized the revelations of abuse of Iraqi prisoners at Abu Ghraib as "hazing," especially compared to abuses suffered by Americans in Iraq. The House defeated his amendment to limit the United States contribution to the United Nations to the largest assessment of any other Security Council member. He also was turned down on his amendment to fund Justice Department enforcement of a 1996 law that forbids localities from preventing police officers from reporting immigration information to the federal government. On local issues, he called for expansion of "value-added agriculture," including biotechnology and ethanol, to strengthen the local economy. He joined Christian conservatives who demanded that the Iowa Supreme Court display a donated copy of the Ten Commandments. He listed his top local projects as the dredging of Storm Lake and expanding Highway 20 to a four-lane road from near Storm Lake to Sioux City. "I told my wife I don't get to die until they're done," King said of the two projects.

In November 2004 he carried all but one small county and won 63%-37% over a Democrat who said King's comments on Abu Ghraib and immigration policy "embarrass" Iowa.

Committees

• Agriculture (16th of 25 R): Conservation, Credit, Rural Development & Research; General Farm Commodities & Risk Management; Livestock & Horticulture.
• Judiciary (20th of 23 R): Immigration, Border Security & Claims; The Constitution.
• Small Business (10th of 18 R): Regulatory Reform & Oversight; Rural Enterprises, Agriculture & Technology.

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2004	5	0	0	0	90	78	100	96	97	100	--
2003	10	--	0	10	--	64	96	92	--	--	--

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2003 LIB	--	2003 CONS		2004 LIB	--	2004 CONS
Economic	21%	--	79%		9%	--	88%
Social	21%	--	78%		0%	--	91%
Foreign	0%	--	89%		10%	--	86%
For National Journal's complete 2004 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 108th Congress (More Info)
1. Drilling in ANWR N 2. Approve Bush Tax Cuts Y 3. Medicare/Rx Bill Y 4. Bar Overtime Pay Regs. N 5. DC School Vouchers Y 6. Ban Human Cloning Y		7. Restrict Gun Liability Y  8. Ban Partial-Birth Abortion Y  9. Ban Same-Sex Marriage Y 10. Fund Iraq War Y 11. Bar Cuba Embargo Funds N 12. Intelligence Reorg. Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2004 general	Steve King (R)	168,583	63%	$553,171
	Joyce Schulte (D)	97,597	37%	$59,976
2004 primary	Steve King (R)	unopposed
2002 general	Steve King (R)	113,257	62%	$650,612
	Paul Shomshor (D)	68,853	38%	$91,855

2004 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 167,387 (60%) Kerry (D) 109,974 (39%)

2000 Presidential Vote Bush (R) 141,820 (57%) Gore (D) 99,004 (40%)

For 1992 and 1996 presidential results in the Fifth District, please see the Almanac 2000 online. Please note that these older returns reflect district lines as they existed prior to 2002 redistricting.

• Cook Partisan Voting Index: R + 8
• District Size: 18,429 square miles
• Population in 2000: 585,171; 49.4% urban; 50.6% rural
• Median Household Income: $36,773; 8.9% are below the poverty line
• Occupation: 29.5% blue collar; 53.3% white collar; 17.2% gray collar; 14.0% military veterans
• Race/Ethnic Origin: 93.7% White, 0.6% Black, 0.9% Asian, 0.4% Amer. Indian, 0.0% Hawaiian, 0.7% Two+ races, 0.0% Other, 3.6% Hispanic origin
• Ancestry: 26.8% German, 9.2% Irish, 6.7% English
• Click here for statewide demographic data.