Woodbury County Supervisor and former State Representative Jeremy Taylor of Sioux City, one of the five candidates competing for the Republican nomination in the Iowa 4th Congressional District race, accused U.S. Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, and State Senator Randy Feenstra, R-Hull, of “debate ducking and dodging” after three debates were cancelled.
Michael Biundo, spokesperson for the Taylor campaign, told Caffeinated Thoughts that the debate scheduled with KSCJ in Sioux City on January 6 was cancelled due to non-participation. Another debate scheduled on January 23 with KIWA in Sheldon only had three responses, he said. Other than Taylor Biundo believes University Park businessman Steve Reeder and former Mayor of Irwin Bret Richards were the other two candidates to respond.
KDSN in Crawford County rescheduled and then recently cancelled a debate due to scheduling conflicts, he added.
King’s re-election campaign in December committed to holding debates before the Republican primary, but has not announced his participation in any upcoming debate.
âMultiple news outlets have worked to try to put together a debate, and despite my willingness to join, they all have failed. Why? Itâs simple really: Senator Feenstra and Congressman King are ducking and dodging. Unfortunately, the voters of the Fourth District are the ones that lose out by my opponents’ actions,” Taylor said in a released statement.
“While the Democrat Socialists are flooding this state holding town halls and having debates, ironically, my opponents have chosen to instead hide from voters. Iowa has a long proud history of direct voter participation in the election process, a process I honor. I am ready to answer their tough questions, and I call on each candidate in IA-04 to come together, have a constructive debate on the issues, and allow those who are seeking to hire us to make an informed decision on who will best represent them,” he added.
The Feenstra campaign denied Taylor’s accusation and pointed to the King campaign.
“We have told numerous media outlets and local Republican groups that we look forward to the opportunity to debate Congressman King. We remain committed to finding opportunities to contrast Randyâs record of conservative results with Congressman Kingâs failure to deliver conservative results for the 4th District. Unfortunately, to date, Congressman King has has not agreed to any debates,” Matt Leopold, campaign manager for Randy Feenstra, said.
Caffeinated Thoughts reached out to the King campaign on Friday for comment, but has not heard back.