GOP Rep. Steve King says he hopes Supreme Court Justices Kagan and Sotomayor 'elope to Cuba'

(Image credit: Alex Wong / Getty Images)

published 6 November 2018

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) chose to spend his last day of campaigning before the midterms sharing with voters his fantasy about two Supreme Court justices.

King has been known for making inflammatory remarks, but this year, his comments garnered more attention, leading to several corporations announcing last week they will no longer support him. Weekly Standard editor Adam Rubenstein reports that during a stop in Hampton, Iowa, on Monday, King spoke about the Supreme Court, and said he hopes "we'll have a 7-2 court," and if we're really lucky, Justices "[Elena] Kagan and [Sonia] Sotomayor will elope to Cuba." The Washington Post asked King's spokesman for comment, and he did not respond.

Later in the day, King criticized the National Republican Congressional Committee for backing a gay candidate. "They sent money over to support a candidate in a primary in California who had a same-sex partner that they put all over glossy mailers," he said. "I don't know if they were holding hands or what was the deal. That's hard to write a check to those guys when they do that. So, I'm hopeful that we can get conservative leadership in the House." Last week, the head of the National Republican Congressional Committee, Rep. Steve Stivers (R-Ohio), denounced King's incendiary remarks on race and immigration, saying Americans must "stand up against white supremacy and hate in all forms."

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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