Adam Kinzinger, ex-Republican congressman, forges “awkward alliance” with Democrats

CHICAGO (CBS) – In a primetime speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention Thursday night, Adam Kinzinger, a Republican who served as an Illinois congressman and a frequent critic of former President Donald Trump, said he and Democrats have forged an “awkward alliance” to defeat the former president.

While Kinzinger said even though he’s been a Republican since he was a kid, he never thought he’d be speaking at a Democratic National Convention.

“But I’ve learned something about the Democratic Party, and I want to let my fellow Republicans in on the secret,” he said. “The Democrats are as patriotic as us. They love this country just as much as we do, and they are as eager to defend American values at home and abroad as we conservatives have ever been.”

Kinzinger served in the House of Representatives for 12 years, representing parts of Chicago’s far southwest suburbs and more rural areas of north-central Illinois. Despite his conservative views, Kinzinger was often willing to criticize Trump, especially when he veered away from Republican orthodoxy on foreign policy.

But Kinzinger argued that his own party is “no longer conservative” and “switched its allegiance” to Trump, “a man whose only purpose is himself.” He wasn’t the only Republican who spoke during this year’s convention against the former president.

“Donald Trump is a weak man pretending to be strong,” Kinzinger said. “He is a small man pretending to be big. He is a faithless man pretending to be righteous. He’s a perpetrator who can’t stop playing the victim. Listen, he puts on quite a show, but there is no real strength there.”

It wasn’t until the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of Trump that Kinzinger broke with the former president for good, calling him a “threat” to the country. Kinzinger was one of only 10 Republican members of the House to vote to impeach Trump for his role on Jan. 6.

Kinzinger also served on the House panel that investigated the Capitol assault and efforts to overturn the 2020 election, one of only two Republicans who agreed to do so. He opted not to run for reelection in 2022. 

Since then, he’s moved from Illinois to Texas and used a political action committee he formed to defeat Republican candidates aligned with Trump.

“Donald Trump has suffocated the soul of the Republican Party,” he said. “His fundamental weakness has coursed through my party like an illness, sapping our strength, softening our spine, whipping us into a fever that has untethered us from our values.”

Despite the blowback from members of his own party, Kinzinger said he shared an “allegiance to the rule of law, the Constitution, and democracy” with Democrats like Kamala Harris, whom he urged like-minded conservatives to support.

“It’s the bedrock that separates us from tyranny and when that foundation is fractured, we must all stand together united to strengthen it,” he said. “If you think those principles are worth defending, then I urge you: Make the right choice. Vote for our bedrock values and vote for Kamala Harris.”

Kinzinger told CBS News Chicago about the personal consequences of his anti-Trump stance, but he’s still received praise from other Republicans who have rejected the former president. Pat Brady, the former chair of the Illinois Republican Party, argued the appearance of Republicans like Kinzinger supporting Harris could be key to winning over a small but significant segment of the electorate who don’t like Trump but might not be “thrilled” to vote for a Democrat.

“I think Kinzinger’s imprimatur around her campaign does that and he’s fought against Trump more than anybody that I know and he get’s up tonight and says ‘Listen, I’ve seen this guy first hand. He tried to overthrow our government and he should never be in the White House again,'” Brady said. “There are people like Adam and myself that just aren’t going to vote for anybody that did that.”