GOP Trump critic Adam Kinzinger won't run for re-election: 'Time to move on'

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.), a Republican critic of former President Donald Trump who voted to impeach him earlier this year, has announced he won't seek re-election.

Kinzinger made the announcement in a video shared Friday on Twitter, saying it's "time to move on from Congress" and that he can't "focus on both a re-election" campaign and on "a broader fight nationwide."

Kinzinger, who has served in Congress since 2011, is one of only two Republicans on the congressional committee probing the Jan. 6 riot, with the other being Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.). He was also one of 10 Republicans in the House of Representatives who voted to impeach Trump for inciting the riot. Kinzinger told The Washington Post at the time voting to impeach "was, frankly, an easy decision," and in his announcement video, he applauded the "courage of the other nine members in the House" who voted with him even though this "could be detrimental to their political career." The announcement came after the Illinois state legislature "passed a new congressional map early Friday morning that drew the lawmaker into the same district with another Republican incumbent," Rep. Darin Lahood (R-Il.), "setting up a would-be primary matchup," Politico reports.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Kinzinger on Friday also said "we've allowed leaders to reach power selling the false premise that strength comes from degrading others" and warned that as a result, "We face a poisoned country." While he won't run for re-election next year, though, he said "this isn't the end of my political future, but the beginning." In August, Kinzinger told Politico, "I certainly wouldn't rule out Senate or governor and anything else. Maybe, who knows?"