We have seen a seismic shift in our political universe during the past decade. Perhaps no one personifies this better than Adam Kinzinger.
He was a rising star, a moderate Republican, and he won his elections by wide margins. In 2016, he became the representative for the Illinois 16th district in the US House of Representatives. DeKalb and Sycamore were in that district.
Despite efforts by local Democrats to defeat him, he was reelected in 2018 and 2020. Though not initially a supporter of candidate Trump, Kinzinger frequently voted to support President Trump. This began to change in 2020. But the big wake-up call for Kinzinger came with the violent riot at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
He became a fierce opponent of those who characterized the riot as peaceful protest. He was one of two Republicans appointed to the House committee to investigate the attack and both were subsequently censured by the Republican National Committee.
Kinzinger did not to run for reelection in 2022. He was hired by CNN as a commentator where he has continued to criticize the former president and his toadies.
Kinzinger would probably argue that it’s the party that’s changed, not him. And he may be right. But I doubt he or anyone else would ever have predicted that one day he would find himself on the stage of the Democratic convention supporting Kamala Harris for president.
I’m Deborah Booth and that’s my perspective.
