Republican Steve King Bars Multiple Reporters from Election Night Event, Calling Them 'Leftist Propaganda'

Iowa Republican Representative Steve King reportedly barred multiple journalists from an election night event on Tuesday, calling some news outlets "leftist propaganda."

The Des Moines Register, Iowa's largest newspaper, reported earlier Tuesday that it was barred from the event. Later in the day, a HuffPost reporter said he was kicked out of the event.

Jeff King, the son of the congressman and a staffer for his father, sent the Register an email on Tuesday denying the paper credentials.

"We are not granting credentials to the Des Moines Register or any other leftist propaganda media outlet with no concern for reporting the truth," it read, via the Register.

Then, on Tuesday evening, HuffPost reporter Christopher Mathias‏ tweeted that he had been kicked out of King's election night party by the representative's son.

"Just got kicked out of Steve King's election night party! King's son Jeff, who is the campaign chairman, told me to leave the building," Mathias tweeted. In a follow-up tweet, Mathias noted that when he asked for an explanation for why he was being booted, Jeff King referred him to the statement he gave the Register.

Mathias again followed up, reporting that the King campaign had kicked out another local paper.

King is often at the center of controversy on the national stage. He has, for instance, endorsed a white nationalist politician in Canada and once retweeted an anti-immigrant post from British neo-Nazi Mark Collett (and refused to apologize).

The Register's editorial board endorsed his opponent, Democrat J.D. Scholten.

"This one's a no-brainer for any Iowan who has cringed at eight-term incumbent King's increasing obsession with being a cultural provocateur," it read, in part. "In his almost 16 years in Congress, King has passed exactly one bill as primary sponsor, redesignating a post office. He won't debate his opponent and rarely holds public town halls. Instead, he spends his time meeting with fascist leaders in Europe and retweeting neo-Nazis."