Land O’Lakes sours on Iowa Rep. Steve King

Following threats of a consumer boycott, Land O’Lakes said Tuesday it would no longer make political donations to Rep. Steve King, an Iowa Republican under increased fire for his controversial comments on race and associations with white nationalists.

The privately owned dairy company had faced calls for a boycott of its butter, milk and cheese over its political action committee’s financial support for King, currently running for reelection in a tightening race.

The firebrand lawmaker has stirred controversy by refusing to delete a retweet of the British immigration activist and Nazi sympathizer Mark Collett and by displaying a confederate flag on his desk in Washington, D.C. Rep. King in September also endorsed a candidate for mayor of Toronto who has espoused white supremacist views. 

“The Land O’Lakes Inc. PAC has traditionally contributed to lawmakers of both parties that represent the communities where our members and employees live and work and are also on [congressional] committees that oversee policies that directly impact our farmer owners,” the company said in a statement Tuesday. “We take our civic responsibility seriously, want our contributions to be a positive force for good and also seek to ensure that recipients of our contributions uphold our company’s values. On that basis, we have determined that our PAC will no longer support Rep. Steve King moving forward.”

A spokesperson for King did not immediately return a request for comment.

Land O’Lakes, which operates as a member-owned food and agricultural cooperative, gave $2,500 to King’s campaign in June, according to Federal Election Commission records.That donation was condemned by liberals including former presidential candidate Howard Dean and TV host Soledad O’Brien, who called the the company’s donation to King “appalling.”

“Land O Lakes dairy company sent this guy money. We need to let them know decent people don’t appreciate it,” Dean argued in a tweet last week that drew hundreds of responses advocating a boycott of the butter, cream and milk products sold by the privately held Fortune 500 company.

Dean’s and O’Brien’s tweets drew hundreds of responses calling for a boycott.

Another corporate contributor, the chip giant Intel, confirmed a report that it has withdrawn its support for King after earlier donating $2,000 to the lawmaker’s campaign. A political newsletter, Popular Information, reported on Sunday that Intel stated in an internal email to employees that it would no longer contribute to King’s campaigns after reviewing his public statements and determining they conflicted with the company’s values.

The newsletter quoted an Oct. 25 email from Dawn Jones, Intel’s director of policy and external partnerships: “We had engaged with Rep. King because of his support for IP theft protections, which is important to Intel’s business. However, an Intel employee raised concerns about the donations earlier this month. We looked into the congressman’s public statements and determined that they conflict with Intel values. As a result, we are no longer donating to his campaigns.” 

Intel declined further comment.