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Anti-Trump Republican Adam Kinzinger is retiring.
The representative from Illinois notoriously joined ten other Republicans to vote for the impeachment of President Donald Trump.
He is also one of two Republicans chosen by Nancy Pelosi to sit on her Democrat-led partisan committee to investigate the January 6 riot at the Capitol.
Democrats have issued redistricting maps which led to Kinzinger announcing his retirement.
In a video, Kinzinger says the “time is now” to move on.
He also expressed “awe” at the nine other Republicans who voted to impeach Trump.
“My disappointment in the leaders that don’t lead is huge,” he said.
“Dehumanizing each other has become the norm,” Kinzinger said about those holding political office.
“We’ve taken it from social media to the streets. We’ve allowed leaders to reach power selling the false premise that strength comes from degrading others and dehumanizing those that look, act, or think differently than we do,” he added.
“As a country, we’ve fallen for those lies, and now we face a poisoned country filled with outrage blinding our ability to reach real strength.”
All anti-Trump Republicans are reportedly facing tough reelections in the midterms coming next year.
Rumors are circulating that Kinzinger could challenge Democrat Governor J.B. Pritzker of Illinois.
Watch the clip:
Looking forward to the next chapter! pic.twitter.com/SvdFCVtrlE
— Adam Kinzinger (@AdamKinzinger) October 29, 2021
The Illinois Republican has been a vocal critic of Trump and his own party since January. Kinzinger joined Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) by accepting an invitation from the Democrats to join Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) committee to investigate January 6.
Trump’s influence over the party has remained strong since being out of elected office. He has since vowed to campaign against members of his own party that voted to impeach him, including Kinzinger. Upon Kinzinger’s announcement, the former president quickly released a statement saying, “2 down, 8 to go!”
In addition to Trump’s influence in Republican politics, earlier in the month, the Illinois state legislature released their proposed borders for the new congressional district maps and placed Kinzinger in the same district as freshman Democrat Rep. Marie Newman (D-IL), Illinois’s Third Congressional District, which has leaned Democrat for decades and would have likely ended in defeat for the Republican.
In the video, the Illinois Republican hinted at another office he might run for, saying, “I cannot focus on both a reelection to Congress and a broader fight nationwide. I want to make it clear — this isn’t the end of my political future, but the beginning.”
