Former Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger said in his speech at the Democratic National Convention that “Donald Trump has suffocated the soul of the Republican Party” and supported Democrat Kamala Harris as presidential candidate.
“His fundamental weakness has gripped my party like a disease. It has robbed us of all our strength, weakened our backbone and plunged us into a fever that has separated us from our values,” he said.
Kinzinger, who represented Illinois in Congress from 2011 to 2023, addressed his speech on Thursday evening not to Democrats at the United Center in Chicago, but to members of his own party.
“I’ve learned something about the Democratic Party, and I want to let my Republican colleagues in on that secret,” he said. “Democrats are as patriotic as we are. They love this country as much as we do. And they are as zealous about defending American values at home and abroad as we conservatives ever have been.”
“I also learned something about my party. Something I couldn’t ignore,” he continued. “The Republican Party is no longer conservative. It has switched its allegiance. From the principles that gave it meaning to a man whose only meaning is himself.”
Kinzinger, who said in his speech that he “still clings to the label” of a Republican, was a Trump critic before the attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 6.
After the violent insurrection, Kinzinger was one of only ten Republicans to vote for impeachment in Trump’s second impeachment trial.
Kinzinger also voted to create and subsequently served on a select committee to investigate the Jan. 6 riots. He and former Rep. Liz Cheney were the only Republicans on the committee.
U.S. Representative Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) speaks alongside Chairman U.S. Representative Bennie Thompson (D-MS) during the fifth of eight scheduled public hearings of the U.S. House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., June 23, 2022.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
“Our democracy was shaken by the events of January 6, when Donald Trump’s fraud and dishonor led to the siege of the United States Capitol,” he said. “How can a party claim to be patriotic when it idolizes a man who tried to overturn a free and fair election?”
Kinzinger, who endorsed Democrat Joe Biden in June before the president withdrew his candidacy for re-election, was not the first Republican to speak at this year’s Democratic convention.
Several former Trump voters and staffers spoke out in support of Harris at the DNC this week, trying to persuade their Republican colleagues to vote against their party and its leader.
“Democracy knows no parties,” said Kinzinger. “It is a living ideal that defines us as a nation. It is the foundation that separates us from tyranny – and when that foundation breaks, we must all stand together to strengthen it.”
“If you think these principles are worth defending, then I urge you to make the right choice. Vote for our core values. Vote for Kamala Harris.”
