GOP Rep. Steve King bans Iowa’s largest newspaper from election event

Republican U.S. Rep. Steve King is banning Iowa’s largest newspaper from his election night events in Sioux City.

The Des Moines Register reports it requested credentials to cover the event, but King’s son, Jeff King, responded Tuesday with an email saying, “We are not granting credentials to the Des Moines Register or any other leftist propaganda media outlet with no concern for reporting the truth.”

A telephone call left by The Associated Press with the King campaign wasn’t immediately returned.

King has faced criticism from Republican officials and lost funding from business group after he tweeted support for a white nationalist candidate for Toronto mayor and praised a nationalist party in Austria with Nazi ties. Most of the criticism came in light of a deadly shooting at a Pittsburgh synagogue.

King says media reports have been inaccurate and unfair.

King usually wins re-election by a wide margin in the conservative 4th Congressional District but his Democratic challenger this year, J.D. Scholten, is well funded and has run an energetic campaign.