Marilyn and me waiting for Pope Francis at White House. http://t.co/aA04vZjco8
Iowa Congressman Steve King is in the news this week after tweeting that America “can’t restore our civilization with somebody else’s babies” while linking to Geert Wilders, a far-right Dutch politician who has made inflammatory comments about Muslims and immigrants.
King has had a history of controversial statements like throughout his 14 years in the House of Representatives. He is from Storm Lake, Iowa, and he is married with three children.
Here’s what you need to know about Steve King’s wife, Marilyn King.
1. They Met in High School
Marilyn & Jase King of the Kelly, Lally, & Houlihan clans. Raising them right on green eggs n ham. Happy St. Pats Day http://t.co/7aVObumoKK
According to the Sioux City Journal, Steve King met his wife Marilyn in high school.
Steve and Marilyn both attended Denison Community High School in Denison, Iowa. They began dating in Steve’s senior year; Marilyn was in her junior year at the time. Five years after Steve’s high school graduation, he and Marilyn were married.
Steve King went on to attend Northwest Missouri State University. He did not graduate, and he founded a construction company a few years after leaving college.
2. They Were Married in 1972, the Day of the Watergate Break-in
Here’s Marilyn & friend Rebecca stuck in DC after #MarchforLife. 14″ + 10″ to go = 2ft. I’m in balmy Iowa:-)
Steve and Marilyn were married on June 17th, 1972, according to the Sioux City Journal.
This happened to be the same day that the Watergate break-in took place.
Steve and Marilyn have now been married for 45 years. Marilyn, like Steve, is a gun collector, and an Iowa state representative told Talking Points Memo that Steve is “more likely to give her a new gun for Christmas than a new watch or ring.”
3. She Is a School Teacher
Steve King’s wife Marilyn is a school teacher.
According to the Sioux City Journal, she started off teaching preschool at a Lutheran Church in Kiron, as well as at a preschool at a Methodist Church in Odebolt. However, Steve and Marilyn are both Catholic, and they are members of the St. Martin’s Church in Odebolt, according to King’s website.
Marilyn King later earned a degree from Buena Vista University, taking night classes and eventually beginning her career teaching elementary school.
4. Steve & Marilyn Produced a ‘Mean Tweets’ Video in 2014
Marilyn has appeared on screen with her husband Steve a handful of times over the course of his political career, including in 2014 when Steve produced a video of himself reading mean tweets that are sent to him. This was styled after a popular segment on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
According to the Des Moines Register, in the video, Marilyn reads a tweet which says, “I bet Steve King smells like mothballs and dusty Bibles.” She also reads one which says, “Oddly, no one has compiled a list of all the cuckoo things Steve King has said.” After reading the tweet, Marilyn takes a pause before saying, “No, they have.”
This video has since been removed from YouTube because it contained copyrighted music.
In addition to the mean tweets video, Marilyn also appeared in a TV ad for Steve in 2012, when he was seeking re-election.
“Steve King? He’s had one wife, one house and one church for forty years,” she says in the ad. “And I’m that one wife.”
5. They Have 3 Children
Steve and Marilyn King have three children: David, Michael, and Jeff.
According to the Sioux City Journal, 41-year-old David King lives in Wall Lake, Iowa with his wife and three children. David is the owner of King Construction, the firm his father founded but left when he ran for Congress. 39-year-old Michael King lives in Odebolt, Iowa with his wife, and he works for Rex Chevrolet. 38-year-old Jeff King lives in Wall Lake, Iowa with his wife and child. Jeff previously managed his father’s campaign.
In 2009, Steve King missed his son Michael’s wedding so that he could vote against the Affordable Care Act. His wife Marilyn attended the wedding, however.
“No one in this family asked me to reconsider. They all said, ‘We know that you will do what you have to do,'” Steve King said at the time, according to the Sioux City Journal. “So I call it full-family support and full understanding. As I said, the best thing that I could give them would be to preserve the freedom that I was born into and be able to pass that along to any children that they will be blessed with.”