American military officer and politician

Adam Daniel Kinzinger (/ˈkɪnzɪŋər/; born February 27, 1978) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Illinois's 16th congressional district. The district covers eastern Rockford, most of Rockford's suburbs, and a swath of exurban territory around Chicago. He is a member of the Republican Party. He is also a lieutenant colonel in the Air National Guard.

Kinzinger was first elected to Congress in 2010 from the 11th district. His district was largely merged with the 16th after the 2010 census, and Kinzinger transferred to the 16th after defeating its in*bent, Don Manzullo, in the Republican primary.

After President Donald Trump was defeated in the 2020 presidential election, Kinzinger became known for his vocal opposition to Trump's claims of voter fraud and attempts to overturn the results. Kinzinger was one of the 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump for incitement of insurrection in his second impeachment, and one of only two Republicans to vote to create a select committee to investigate the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol, to which he was subsequently appointed.

On October 29, 2021, Kinzinger announced that he will not seek reelection to Congress in 2022.

Contents

• 1 Early life, education, and early political career
• 2 Military service
• 3 U.S. House of Representatives
  • 3.1 Elections
    • 3.1.1 2010
    • 3.1.2 2012
    • 3.1.3 2014
    • 3.1.4 2016
    • 3.1.5 2018
    • 3.1.6 2020
  • 3.2 Tenure
    • 3.2.1 Censure by Republican National Committee
  • 3.3 Committee *ignments
  • 3.4 Caucus memberships
• 4 Political positions
  • 4.1 Domestic issues
    • 4.1.1 Gun law
    • 4.1.2 Health care
  • 4.2 Economic issues
  • 4.3 International issues
    • 4.3.1 Iran
    • 4.3.2 Immigration
  • 4.4 Social issues
    • 4.4.1 Abortion
    • 4.4.2 Cannabis
    • 4.4.3 LGBTQ rights
  • 4.5 Criticism of Donald Trump
  • 4.6 Country First Movement
  • 4.7 Steve Bannon
• 5 Electoral history
  • 5.1 2010
  • 5.2 2012
  • 5.3 2014
  • 5.4 2016
  • 5.5 2018
  • 5.6 2020
• 6 Personal life
• 7 References
• 8 External links

Early life, education, and early political career

Adam Kinzinger was born on February 27, 1978, in Kankakee, Illinois, the son of Betty Jo, an elementary school teacher, and Rus Kinzinger, a CEO of faith-based organizations. After spending part of his youth in Jacksonville, Florida, he was primarily raised in Bloomington, Illinois. He graduated from Normal Community West High School in 1996 and earned a bachelor's degree in political science from Illinois State University in 2000.

In 1998, while a student at Illinois State, Kinzinger ran for election as a county board member in McLean County. He won, defeating an in*bent, and at age 20 was one of the youngest county board members in McLean County history, Kinzinger remained on the board until resigning in 2003.

Kinzinger worked as an intern for former U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald shortly after his graduation from Illinois State, as part of a program offered there.

Military service

Kinzinger piloting a Boeing KC-135 StratoTanker during his service with the United States Air Force.

Kinzinger resigned from the McLean County Board in 2003 to join the United States Air Force. He was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in November 2003 and later awarded his pilot wings. Kinzinger was initially a KC-135 Stratotanker pilot and flew missions in South America, Guam, Iraq and Afghanistan. He later switched to flying the RC-26 surveillance aircraft and was stationed in Iraq twice.

Kinzinger has served in the Air Force Special Operations Command, Air Combat Command, Air Mobility Command, and Wisconsin Air National Guard and was progressively promoted to his current rank of Lieutenant Colonel. As part of his continued service with the Air National Guard, Kinzinger was deployed to the Mexico–United States border in February 2019 as part of efforts to maintain border security.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2010

Main article: 2010 United States House of Representatives elections in Illinois §:District 11

Kinzinger met Republican U.S. Representatives Mike Pence, Mark Kirk, and Peter Roskam in January 2009 to discuss a possible run for Congress. He decided to run in Illinois's 11th congressional district, held by Debbie Halvorson. He started campaigning full-time in May 2009, when he returned home from his 3rd tour in Iraq. He was endorsed by former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Kinzinger won the five-candidate Republican primary on February 2, 2010, with 64% of the vote.

He was endorsed by the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times in the general election. Kinzinger defeated Halvorson 57–43% on November 2, 2010.

2012

Main article: 2012 United States House of Representatives elections in Illinois §:District 16 Kinzinger (second from right) at the Halifax International Security Forum.

During his first term, Kinzinger represented a district that stretched from the outer southern suburbs of Chicago to Bloomington/Normal.

After redistricting, Kinzinger's district was eliminated. Much of its eastern portion, including Kinzinger's home in Channahon, near Joliet, was merged with the Rockford-based 16th District, represented by fellow Republican Don Manzullo, a 67-year-old politician first elected in 1992. Before redistricting, Kinzinger had represented 31% of the newly apportioned district, while Manzullo had represented at least 44% of it. In the March Republican primary, Kinzinger defeated Manzullo, 56–44%. In the general election, Kinzinger defeated Democrat Wanda Rohl, 62–38%.

Eric Cantor helped Kinzinger, who was a rising Republican star, topple Manzullo in the Illinois primary.

2014

Main article: 2014 United States House of Representatives elections in Illinois §:District 16

Kinzinger was targeted by the Club for Growth in 2014. In the Republican primary, he faced David Hale, a nurse and founder of the Rockford Tea Party. Kinzinger won with 78% of the vote.

In the general election, Kinzinger defeated Democratic nominee Randall Olsen with 71% of the vote.

2016

Main article: 2016 United States House of Representatives elections in Illinois §:District 16 Kinzinger with U.S. Amb*ador to Canada Bruce Heyman and Representative Mike Pompeo.

Kinzinger won the March 2016 Republican primary with 100% of the vote. No candidates filed for the Democratic primary for his seat and no Democrat ran in the election; Kinzinger won the election with 99.9% of the vote.

Kinzinger announced publicly that he would not support GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump on August 3, 2016. "I'm an American before I'm a Republican," he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer, adding, "I'm a Republican because I believe that Republicanism is the best way to defend the United States of America... throws all of these Republican principles on their head." Kinzinger noted, however, that he also would not support Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, and was mulling other options.

Kinzinger introduced the U.S. House version of the bipartisan bill Countering Foreign Propaganda and Disinformation Act. The United States Senate version was written in March 2016 by Senators Chris Murphy and Rob Portman. After the 2016 U.S. presidential election, worries grew that Russian propaganda spread and organized by the Russian government swayed the outcome of the election, and members of Congress took action to safeguard the national security of the United States by advancing legislation to monitor incoming propaganda from external threats. On November 30, 2016, legislators approved a measure within the National Defense Authorization Act to ask the U.S. State Department to take action against foreign propaganda through an interagency panel. The legislation authorized funding of $160 million over a two-year period. The initiative was developed through the Countering Foreign Propaganda and Disinformation Act.

2018

Main article: 2018 United States House of Representatives elections in Illinois §:District 16

Kinzinger defeated Democratic challenger Sara Dady with 59.1% of the vote. After the 2018 midterm elections, which saw all the Republican congressmen representing the Chicago area defeated, he was left as the only Republican representing a significant part of northern Illinois in Congress.

2020

Main article: 2020 United States House of Representatives elections in Illinois §:District 16

Kinzinger defeated Democrat Dani Brzozowski in the 2020 election with 65% of the vote.

Tenure

Kinzinger speaking at Hudson Ins*ute.

In 2010 Kinzinger signed a pledge sponsored by Americans for Prosperity promising to vote against any global warming legislation that would raise taxes.

Kinzinger sponsored the Veteran Emergency Medical Technician Support Act of 2013. The legislation, which would make it easier for veterans with emergency medical technician training in the military to get civilian licenses to perform the same job outside of the military, p*ed the House of Representatives by a voice vote but was not voted upon by the Senate.

On June 5, 2014, Kinzinger introduced a bill (H.R. 4801; 113th Congress) which would require the United States Secretary of Energy to prepare a report on the effects that thermal insulation has on both energy consumption and systems for providing potable water in federal buildings. Kinzinger argued that "with the federal government being the single largest consumer of energy in the country, doing our best to maximize the potential savings from improved insulation systems is a commonsense step I think everybody can agree on."

Kinzinger is a member of both the Republican Study Committee and the Republican Main Street Partnership.

Kinzinger visits the Disaster Recovery Center in Marseilles, Illinois.

Conservative Review gave Kinzinger's voting record a "Liberty Score" of 35%, while the American Conservative Union (ACU) gave Kinzinger a Lifetime Rating of 59.60 out of 100. Kinzinger was ranked as the 40th most bipartisan member of the House during the 114th United States Congress (and the third most bipartisan member of the House from Illinois) in the Bipartisan Index created by The Lugar Center and the McCourt School of Public Policy, which ranks members of Congress by their degree of bipartisanship (by measuring how often each member's bills attract co-sponsors from the opposite party and each member co-sponsors bills by members of the opposite party).

Kinzinger voted for the 2017 Republican health care legislation, which would have repealed major parts of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

Kinzinger voted for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kinzinger faced criticism from some Asian American leaders for blaming China for the pandemic at a time that anti-AAPI (Asian American Pacific Islander) hate crimes and coronavirus-related discrimination were rising. Kinzinger aut*d and retweeted many tweets singling out China for blame. One such tweet was "Daily reminder: You are in your homes because #Chinahidthevirus."

According to Jeremy W. Peters, Kinzinger had an uneasy feeling on the day of the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and asked his wife not to attend the process the finalizing of the election. He also told his office staff not to come to work that day and took his .380 caliber Ruger LCP to the Capital and to the Rayburn House Office Building. Just after 2:18 p.m., Kinzinger received an email from the Capitol Police telling him to stay away from windows, close and lock doors, remain quiet, and silence all electronics. At this point Kinzinger barricaded the doors of his office and took out his gun.

On February 4, 2021, Kinzinger joined 10 other Republican House members voting with all voting Democrats to strip Marjorie Taylor Greene of her House Education and Labor Committee and House Budget Committee *ignments in response to controversial political statements she had made.

In March 2021, Kinzinger was one of eight Republicans to join the House majority in p*ing the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021.

On April 9, 2021 Kinzinger called for Matt Gaetz to resign while he was being investigated on sex trafficking charges.

On May 19, 2021, Kinzinger and 34 other Republican House members in the 117th Congress voted to create a National Commission to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol Complex, intended to probe the storming of the Capitol. They joined all 217 Democrats present to vote to establish such a body. After the Senate failed to support the national bipartisan commission due to a Republican filibuster, Kinzinger remained committed to the concept.

On July 1, 2021, Kinzinger voiced disdain about sanctions threatened by Republican leadership against Republican lawmakers who would participate in a House committee to investigate the storming of the Capitol. On July 25, he accepted Speaker Pelosi's appointment of him to the House Committee on the Jan. 6 Attack.

During a September 5, 2021, interview on CNN's State of the Union, Kinzinger said his party "desperately needs to tell the truth", that if the party pushes lies and conspiracy theories, it does not deserve to win Congressional majorities in the 2022 elections, that if they were "going to be in charge and pushing conspiracy, pushing division, and pushing lies, then the Republican Party should not have the majority", and that it "is a pretty scary place to go in this world if we start using our power as a way to get the outcome that we want" in elections.

On November 5, 2021, Kinzinger was one of 13 House Republicans to break with their party and vote with a majority of Democrats for the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Censure by Republican National Committee

On February 4, 2022, the Republican National Committee called the events of January 6, 2021, a "legitimate political discourse" and overwhelmingly voted by voice vote to censure Kinzinger (and Representative Liz Cheney) for taking part in the House investigation of the Capitol *ault.

Committee *ignments

• Committee on Energy and Commerce
  • Subcommittee on Communications and Technology
  • Subcommittee on Energy
• Committee on Foreign Affairs
  • Subcommittee on the Middle East, North Africa, and International Terrorism
  • Subcommittee on Europe, Eurasia, Energy, and the Environment (Ranking Member)
• United States House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack

Caucus memberships

• Congressional Cement Caucus
• Friends of a Free Syria Caucus
• House Baltic Caucus
• Congressional NextGen 9-1-1 Caucus
• United States Congressional International Conservation Caucus
• Climate Solutions Caucus
• Republican Governance Group
• Republican Main Street Partnership

Political positions

Domestic issues

Gun law

Kinzinger is in favor of allowing concealed carry of firearms across state lines where concealed carry is legal.

On March 11, 2021, Kinzinger was one of eight Republican representatives who voted to p* the Bipartisan Background Checks Act of 2021.

Health care

In 2017, Kinzinger voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare).

Economic issues

Kinzinger opposes the Dodd–Frank Act.

Kinzinger has a 94% lifetime rating from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a business-oriented group, and a 49% lifetime rating from the Club for Growth, a conservative group, which advocates for tax cuts, lower spending, deregulation, and free trade.

Although many House Republicans previously supported elements of the America COMPETES Act of 2022, Kinzinger was the only minority member to vote for the bill, after their House leadership urged a "No" vote, holding that the bill was too weak on China.

International issues

Iran

On Twitter, Kinzinger praised Donald Trump's decision to kill Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani, Commander of the Quds Force, the third most powerful person in Iran. Reacting to news of the **ination, Kinzinger tweeted, "Mess with the bull, get the horns. If true, nice call, @realdonaldtrump." He continued tweeting, writing, "killed a man responsible for thousands of deaths in #Syria and elsewhere, including Americans. Let's see how long the #blameAmerica left takes to make him a poor victim."

Immigration

Kinzinger supports penalizing sanctuary cities.

Kinzinger supports Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

Kinzinger voted for the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2020, which authorizes DHS to nearly double the available H-2B visas for the remainder of FY 2020.

Kinzinger voted for the Consolidated Appropriations Act (H.R. 1158), which effectively prohibits ICE from cooperating with Health and Human Services to detain or remove illegal alien sponsors of unaccompanied alien children (UACs).

Social issues

Abortion

Kinzinger opposes late term abortion and the use of federal funds for abortion or health coverage that funds abortion.

Cannabis

Kinzinger has a "C−" rating from NORML for his voting history regarding cannabis-related causes. He supported veterans having access to medical * if recommended by their Veterans Health Administration doctor if medical * is legal in their states of residence. He opposed a bill to remove * from the list of scheduled substances under the Controlled Substances Act.

LGBTQ rights

Kinzinger voted against the Equality Act.

Kinzinger has an 11% rating from the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest LGBTQ rights advocacy group.

On February 24, 2021, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene hung a sign outside of her office reading "There are TWO genders: MALE & FEMALE 'Trust The Science!'" in response to Representative Marie Newman, whose office is directly across from hers and who put a transgender flag outside her office in support of the Equality Act. Kinzinger quote-tweeted Greene and said, "This is sad and I’m sorry this happened. Rep. Newmans daughter is transgender, and this video and tweet represents the hate and fame driven politics of self-promotion at all evil costs. This garbage must end, in order to #RestoreOurGOP".

In 2021, Kinzinger was one of 21 House Republicans to sponsor the Fairness for All Act, the Republican alternative to the Equality Act. The bill would prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, and gender iden*y, and protect the free exercise of religion.

In 2015, Kinzinger was one of 60 Republicans voting to uphold President Barack Obama’s 2014 executive order banning federal contractors from making hiring decisions that discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender iden*y.

In 2016, Kinzinger was one of 43 Republicans to vote for the Maloney Amendment to H.R. 5055, which would prohibit the use of funds for government contractors who discriminate against LGBT employees.

In 2022, Kinzinger was one of six Republicans to vote in favor of the Global Respect Act, which imposes sanctions on foreign persons responsible for violations of internationally recognized human rights against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex (LGBTQI) individuals, and for other purposes.

Criticism of Donald Trump

Kinzinger voted in line with President Donald Trump about 90% of the time and voted against Trump's first impeachment, but he subsequently became a critic of Trump and made headlines as a rare Republican officeholder willing to criticize him. In summer 2020, Kinzinger denounced QAnon and other baseless conspiracy theories that gained currency among Republican voters. After the 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost to Joe Biden, Kinzinger denounced Trump's claims that the election was stolen and criticized Trump's attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. In December 2020, after Trump repeated his claims of fraud on Twitter, Kinzinger tweeted that it was time for Trump to delete his Twitter account. He also criticized the Texas Republican Party and called for the firing of its chairman, Allen West, when the party floated the idea of secession, after the Supreme Court rejected Texas v. Pennsylvania, a bid by the state of Texas to overturn the presidential election outcome.

On January 7, 2021, the day after the storming of the U.S. Capitol by a violent pro-Trump mob, Kinzinger became the first Republican member of the House to call for Trump's removal from office via the 25th Amendment. In a video message, Kinzinger said that Trump had "abdicated his duty to protect the American people and the people's house," and his behavior made it clear that he had become "unmoored" from both his duties as president and "reality itself." He urged Vice President Mike Pence and the Cabinet to invoke the 25th Amendment, saying that Trump was "unfit" and "unwell." Five days later, Kinzinger announced that he would vote in favor of Trump's second impeachment. He stated that there was "no doubt" that Trump "broke his oath of office and incited this insurrection." He also accused Trump of using the power of his office to launch a direct attack on Congress. He asked, "If these actions–the Article II branch inciting a deadly insurrection against the Article I branch–are not worthy of impeachment, then what is an impeachable offense?" On January 13, he joined nine other Republicans in voting for impeachment. In response, some Republicans vowed to support a primary challenge to Kinzinger. Kinzinger received a letter from 11 members of his family *erting he had joined "the devil's army" for publicly turning against Trump. Kinzinger said the family members suffer from "brainwashing" from conservative churches that led them astray.

On May 19, 2021, Kinzinger was one of 35 Republicans to join all Democrats in voting to approve legislation to establish the formation of a January 6 commission to investigate the storming of the U.S. Capitol. He was also one of two Republicans to join all Democrats in voting for a January 6 select committee.

On November 14, 2021, Kinzinger, in an interview with Rolling Stone, said that he regretted voting against Trump's first impeachment: "If I went back in time, I would vote for the first impeachment." In the interview, he also called Tucker Carlson a "manipulative son of a *".

Country First Movement

In early 2021, a few weeks after the 2021 Capitol riot, Kinzinger launched the Country First PAC, as a means to reform the Republican Party and distance itself from far-right conspiracies, including QAnon. In the first quarter of 2021, the PAC raised over $1.1 million to fight Trump's growing influence over the Republican Party.

Steve Bannon

On October 21, 2021, Kinzinger was one of nine House Republicans to vote to hold Steve Bannon in contempt of Congress.

Electoral history

2010

2012

2014

2016

2018

2020

Personal life

The Wisconsin Red Cross named Kinzinger its 2006 "Hero of the Year" for wrestling a knife-wielding man to the ground and disarming him. The man had cut the throat of a woman on a street in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Recalling the event in an interview, Kinzinger said, "The whole time it was, to me, kind of a done deal that I was going to get stabbed in the process, but I knew that this wasn't something I could wake up to ... every day with that memory that I watched her die." The woman survived. For this act Kinzinger also received the United States Air Force Airman's Medal and the National Guard's Valley Forge Cross for Heroism.

Kinzinger was ranked 5th on The Hill's 2011 annual "50 Most Beautiful People" list, which ranks anyone who regularly works on Capitol Hill.

Kinzinger was engaged to Air Force Captain Riki Meyers, a fellow pilot, in 2011; they broke their engagement in 2012. Kinzinger became engaged to Sofia Boza-Holman, a former aide to John Boehner and aide to Vice President Mike Pence, in June 2019. They married on February 16, 2020. Their son, Christian Adam Kinzinger, was born in January 2022.

References

External links

• Congressman Adam Kinzinger official U.S. House website
• Adam Kinzinger for Congress
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Profile at Vote Smart
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at the Library of Congress
• Appearances on C-SPAN

Minority

• 117th United States Congress
• List of acts of the 117th United States Congress