Republican Former Congressman Kinzinger Speaks for Harris at DNC
Former Congressman Adam Kinzinger, a Republican, speaks at the Democratic National Convention Thursday. (Photo: Getty)
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Adam Kinzinger, a conservative Republican who served in Congress from 2011-2023, but lost favor among Republican voters in his district and around the country after leveling harsh criticisms at former President Donald Trump, joined a handful of Republicans speaking at the Democratic National Convention.
Kinzinger was gerrymandered out of his district by Illinois Democrats in 2021 and faced a potential primary in a heavily right-wing district now represented by Congressman Darin LaHood (R-Peoria). Kinzinger, a veteran of the Air Force Reserves, chose not to seek re-election in 2022.
He became a target for Trump following his vote to impeach the former president following the January 6 attack on the Capitol by Trump supporters as well as his service on congressional committee that investigated the attacks.
He joined former Governor Jim Edgar and former Congressmen Joe Walsh and Ray LaHood in a “Republicans for Harris” coalition announced earlier this month.
Speaking at the DNC Thursday night, Kinzinger mentioned how unlikely a Republican congressman, swept in to the House in the Tea Party wave of 2010, was to appear at a Democratic convention.
“I never thought I’d be here, but, listen, you never thought you’d see me here, did you?” Kinzinger quipped. “But I’ve learned something about the Democratic Party and I want to let my fellow Republicans in on the secret. The Democrats are as patriotic as us.”
In his roughly seven minute speech in prime time Thursday night, Kinzinger made the case for Vice President Kamala Harris and against Trump.
“Donald Trump has suffocated the soul of the Republican Party,” Kinzinger said. “His fundamental weakness has coursed through my party like an illness, sapping our strength, softening our spine, whipping us up into fever that has untethered us from our values.
Kinzinger alleged Trump’s “deceit and dishonor” led to the January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“That day, I stood witness to a profound sorrow, the desecration of our sacred tradition of peaceful transition of power,” he said. “[It was] tarnished by a man too fragile, too vain, and too weak to accept defeat.”
January 6 was the cornerstone of Kinzinger’s argument against Trump and his party.
“How can a party claim to be patriotic if it idolizes a man who tried to overthrow a free and fair election,” Kinzinger asked.
When Kinzinger rhetorically asked himself on the stage why he would abandon his party to support Harris, he said the answer was easy.
“We must put country first,” he said.