Kinzinger Announces He’s Leaving Congress, Says ‘This Is Not the End of My Political Career But the Beginning’
Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL), a GOP critic of former President Donald Trump, announced on Friday that he will not run for re-election.
“In 2009, I returned from Iraq and made a decision that ran in the face of all odds and sanity. I would challenge an incumbent in a seemingly unwinnable race for Congress,” said Kinzinger, who served in the Air Force and was first elected in 2010 by defeating incumbent Rep. Debbie Halvorson (D-IL), in a video he posted on Twitter. “At that time, I was spurred to run by my conviction of our role in the world. Somehow I won, and I’ll never forget that campaign. The excitement of election night and a new majority. And those supporters who reminded me to be my own man and to never ‘do what they tell you to do’ but do what’s right.”
“I stand tall and proud knowing that I have done just that,” he continued. “I also remember during that campaign saying that if I ever thought it was time to move on from Congress, I would. And that time is now.”
However, said Kinzinger, “let me be clear, my passion for this country has only grown. My desire to make a difference is bigger than it’s ever been.”
Kinzinger, who has been critical of House Republican leadership, went on to slam “leaders that don’t lead.”
“My disappointment in the leaders that don’t lead is huge,” he said. “The battlefield must be broader and the truth needs to reach the American people across the whole country. This country is in an incredibly perilous time.”
Kinzinger lamented that the American government “is the problem and few have risen to do anything about it. Because in this day, to prevail or survive, you must belong to a tribe.”
The six-term congressman remarked that the Republican and Democratic Parties “only survive by appealing to the most motivated and the most extreme elements within it. And the pricetag to power has skyrocketed. And fear and distrust has served as an effective strategy to meet that cost.”
Kinzinger said that “it has also become increasingly obvious” to him “that in order to break the narrative, I cannot focus on both a re-election to Congress and a broader fight nationwide.”
Despite not running for re-election to his seat in the House of Representatives, Kinzinger, who was one of 10 Republicans to vote to impeach Trump the second time, following the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol, said that “this isn’t the end of my political future, but the beginning.” Kinzinger is one of two Republicans serving on the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 tragedy.
Kinzinger’s announcement comes as his congressional district will be gerrymandered out.
Watch above.
[Disclosure: The author of this article previously interned for Kinzinger’s congressional office.]
