CHANNAHON – Adam Kinzinger says he will not run for the US Congress again in 2022 in a video released Friday morning.
"Dehumanizing each other has become the norm," Kinzinger said in the announcement. "We've taken it from social media to the streets. We've allowed leaders to reach power welling the false premise that strength comes from degrading others. And dehumanizing those that look, act of think differently than we do.
As a country, we've fallen for those lies and now we face a poisoned country filled with outrage blinding our ability to achieve real strength," he went on to say. "It has become increasingly obvious to me that as a country, we must unplug from the mistruths we've been fed."
He said he has a "broader fight" nationwide to address rather than represent his district. "This isn't the end of my political future, but the beginning…"
Once again confirming his belief that he, as a Republican representing central Illinois, did the right thing when he voted to impeach President Donald Trump, he suggests that vote caused him and others to potentially pay a price in his district.
Kinzinger is the second GOP member of US Congress that voted to impeach Trump to announce they are not seeking re-election. The first was Rep. Anthony Gonzales of Ohio.
Trump's response to Kinzinger's announcement:
Kinzinger's announcement video:
Illinois Review began covering Adam Kinzinger in August, 2009 – when he was serving as the youngest member of the McLean County Board in Bloomington. Here's what he had to say then: