Republican Representative Adam Kinzinger, who was an outspoken critic of former President Donald Trump, announced Friday that he will not seek re-election next year.
The 43-year-old Illinois representative announced his decision to retire from Congress in a five-minute video Spread on social media.
“But let me be clear,” he said. “My passion for this country has grown. My desire to make a difference is greater than it has ever been. My disappointment in leaders who do not lead is great. The battlefield must be wider and the truth must reach the American people across the country.”
The Illinois Republican was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach Trump in the wake of the riots and the second of that group to announce his retirement from Congress after Representative Anthony Gonzalez, of Ohio.
Kinzinger, a veteran of the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan, has served in Congress since 2011. He often distances himself from the rest of his party on Trump-related matters.
Kinzinger condemned the former president and the January 6 attack on the Capitol, which he blamed on Trump’s false claims that the elections were stolen from him. Kinzinger was serving on the Select Committee to Investigate the Riots with Representative Liz Cheney, R-Wyo, the only two Republicans appointed to the committee by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from California.
When the House Republicans ousted Cheney as their chair, Kinzinger defended her. He also criticized House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, D-Calif., for his support of Trump.
While Kinzinger was an outspoken opponent of Trump and his style of government, the Republican congressman voted along partisan lines and on most of the issues the former president supported, according to the Analytics by FiveThirtyEight.
The Kinzinger District is set to be cut in the redistricting process currently underway in Illinois. The state is losing a seat, and Democrats are looking to seize the opportunity to redraw it in their favour. Kinzinger was likely to face fellow Republican Darren LaHood in the newly redrawn 16th arrondissement.
The congressman said in his video that he does not necessarily have to leave the political arena, saying, “This is not the end of my political future – it is the beginning.” He did not say if he planned to run for a different position.
Jarrett Hack Contributed.
