Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois announced on Friday that he would not seek another term in the House of Representatives. Aside from Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), Kinzinger has been perhaps the most outspoken critic of former President Donald Trump within GOP ranks on Capitol Hill.
Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger (Photo by Andrew Harnik-Pool/Getty Images)
An Iraq veteran who served in the U.S. Air Force, Kinzinger was elected to Congress in 2010 and represents his state’s 16th congressional district. Following the Jan. 6 2021 pro-Trump demonstration in Washington, D.C., the congressman strongly promoted the idea that the former president had attempted to orchestrate an insurrection to overturn the still-disputed result of the 2020 election. Along with Cheney, Kinzinger voted to impeach Trump and the pair later joined the Democrats’ January 6 committee to investigate Trump associates and supporters.
In a statement announcing his decision, Kinzinger said he was not quitting politics: “I cannot focus on both a re-election to Congress and a broader fight nationwide. I want to make it clear, this isn’t the end of my political future, but rather the beginning,”
Kinzinger becomes the second of 10 Republicans who voted in favor of Trump’s impeachment to announce his retirement from the House. Anthony Gonzalez, a GOP representative from Ohio, has also decided not to seek another term.
