By Peter Hancock
Capitol News Illinois
phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com
Chicago – Former Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger did something Thursday night that might have seemed unimaginable just a few years ago. He stood on the stage of the Democratic National Convention and endorsed a Democrat for President of the United States.
“I never thought I’d be here,” Kinzinger said to the DNC crowd. “But listen, you never thought you’d see me here, did you? 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.”
Kinzinger, from Channahon, served in the U.S. House from 2011 to 2023. He chose not to run for reelection in 2022 after publicly breaking with the Trump administration over Trump’s role in the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the United States Capitol.
He is now a member of Republicans for Harris, a group that includes dozens of notable former GOP officeholders who now openly oppose the reelection of Donald Trump.
“As a conservative and a veteran, I believe true strength lies in defending the vulnerable,” Kinzinger said. “It’s in protecting your family. It’s in standing up for our Constitution and our democracy. That is the soul of being a conservative. It used to be the soul of being a Republican, but Donald Trump has suffocated the soul of the Republican Party.”
Kinzinger was one of two Republicans, along with former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, who agreed to serve on the House January 6th Committee that investigated the insurrection and the events that led up to it. Both also voted to impeach Trump.
In December 2022, the committee issued a scathing report that blamed Trump directly for the mayhem that occurred that day and referred the former president to the Justice Department for prosecution on numerous criminal charges, including inciting, assisting or giving aid and comfort to an insurrection.
Trump was indicted by a federal grand jury in August 2023 on four charges related to alleged interference in the 2020 election. But proceedings in that case stalled after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in April that presidents enjoy “absolute” immunity for acts they commit while in office that pertain to the exercise of their “core constitutional powers.”
It sent Trump’s case back to the lower courts to determine whether Trump’s actions were “official” and therefore warranting immunity protections.
For their participation on the committee, both Kinzinger and Cheney received harsh criticism from Trump and others within the GOP. Kinzinger chose not to run for reelection in 2022. Cheney was defeated for reelection in the Wyoming Republican primary that year.
Also taking part in the group is former U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood, of Peoria, who also endorsed Democrat Joe Biden against Trump in 2020.
LaHood served in the House from 1995 until 2009 when he stepped down to serve as transportation secretary under Democratic President Barack Obama. His son Darin now serves in Congress but has endorsed Trump for reelection.
Ray LaHood spoke about his endorsement of Harris earlier in the week as part of a panel discussion on Illinois politics sponsored by Southern Illinois University’s Paul Simon Public Policy Institute.
“I remember Ronald Reagan. I was at the convention in Dallas when Reagan was nominated,” he said. “I was at the convention in Houston when George Herbert Walker Bush was nominated. I was at the convention, as a delegate, when George W. Bush was nominated. And that Republican Party is gone. It’s been taken over by Trump.”
Other Illinois Republicans endorsing Harris reportedly include former governor Jim Edgar and former U.S. representative Joe Walsh.