Former minor league baseball player J-D Scholten will face eight-term Republican incumbent Steve King in the November election for Iowa’s 4th District congressional seat. Scholten picked up about 51 percent of the vote in defeating two other Democrats: Leann Jacobsen and John Paschen.
Scholten toured the expansive district in his RV, and says he believes can defeat King by continuing to meet voters face-to-face.
“Being the candidate from Sioux City, it being the largest city in the district, there is a lot of potential there,” he said by phone from his victory party in Sioux City. “Everything I’m seeing on the campaign trail and what we saw tonight [Tuesday], I’m convinced it’s going to go down to the wire. It’s going to make for an exciting summer and fall.”
King picked up about 75 percent of the vote to easily defeat challenger Cyndi Hansen in the Republican primary. The Sioux City Journal quotes him saying after the votes were counted. “We just went out and did our work. The voters came out and rewarded that.” Libertarian Charles Aldrich is also on the November ballot.
Note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Jacobsen and Paschen as Republicans.
