Iowa Congressman Steve King is still not ready to say whether he’ll run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Democrat Tom Harkin in 2014. King, a Republican from Kiron, says he wants to do a little more fact-finding before he’ll commit.
“When Tom Harkin announced his retirement here a little over a month ago, it was something I’d been looking at anyway so that accelerated the decision-making process somewhat,” King says. “As things have unfolded, we’ll be going out and doing serious polling here within a short period of time.”
Congressman Bruce Braley, a Democrat from Waterloo, has already said he’ll run for the Senate nomination, while Congressman Tom Latham, a Republican from Clive, says he will not seek the seat. King says he is actively looking at launching a campaign.
“The nomination path looks pretty good and very positive,” he says. “If we can put together a plan and a campaign that has a reasonable chance to win, then I’d be in a position to say yes.” King says he is confident of winning any possible Republican primary and he adds, “political science is not a science, it’s far more art.”
“Every endeavor I’ve tried, they’ve said was impossible,” King says. “That doesn’t mean I’m invincible by any means, but I do trust my head and my gut and my heart more than I do the counsel sometimes of somebody who don’t have the benefit of the information that we will have.”
Governor Terry Branstad, a Republican, said he would support Latham in a Senate bid — before Latham dropped out. Lieutenant Governor Kim Reynolds has also said she’d consider running for the Senate seat.
By Jerry Oster, WNAX, Yankton