King says ending Electoral College ‘would split America’

HEDRICK — Iowa Congressman Steve King wants the U.S. to maintain the Electoral College system that elects presidents. Legislatures in more than a dozen states have passed laws to award their electoral college votes to the candidate who wins the most votes nationwide.

“It completely changes the politics in the country and these candidates, they’d be in the cities, buying all the media all the town, kowtowing just the urban interests,” King said yesterday.

King was asked about the national “popular vote” movement during a town hall meeting Tuesday afternoon in Hedrick. The effort has gained steam since both George Bush and Donald Trump got fewer votes than their opponents, but won the presidency after winning enough states to win the Electoral College. King said if the Electoral College system is eliminated, the presidential candidates would ignore small states like Iowa and concentrate on winning big in big states.

“In the end, I think it would split America down those lines,” King said. “It would be a disaster. We’ve got a good thing going right now.”

King been traveling the Fourth Congressional District, holding a town hall meeting in each of the 39 counties in the district. He held events in Woodbury and Webster Counties yesterday.