Kinzinger ‘at peace’ with vote to impeach, subsequent blowback

U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger said he’s not losing a lot of sleep about efforts to censure him among county GOP organizations in his district.

The Republican from Channahon has received blowback from his vote to impeach President Donald Trump and his rejection of the falsehood about widespread voter fraud.

When asked on a press call with reporters Tuesday for his thoughts on being censured by his fellow Republicans, he touted his support for them but appeared to shake off their condemnation.

“Quite honestly, I don’t care,” he said. “It’s not something I focus on.”

What he has focused on in his myriad media appearances since voicing support for impeaching Trump is a call for his party to move beyond the path it’s taken the past four years.

Kinzinger argued that after pro-Trump insurrectionists stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, he would have regretted voting against impeachment.

“I’m at peace,” he said. “I have zero regrets whatsoever.”

He even said the calls to his office have been “overwhelmingly supportive.”

Still, among some Republican county organizations, the reaction has been mixed to a degree.

The La Salle County GOP voted by an 88% margin to censure Kinzinger earlier this month.

By contrast, the Grundy County Republicans decided against censuring Kinzinger by a vote of 11-2, Chairman Aren Hansen said. He argued that censuring the congressman didn’t help further the goals of Republicans in his county.

“The cons outweigh the pros, essentially,” Hansen said.

While Hansen said he understands the anger among local Republicans and didn’t like Kinzinger’s “grandstanding” on Trump’s impeachment, he conceded that the congressman is “speaking his truth.”

Kinzinger said he hasn’t done any polling to better measure the blowback, but he insisted he didn’t take his position on impeachment with a political angle. He added that “it’s fine” that people are upset with him.

“I personally believe that as every day goes by, there are going to be more and more people who kind of get away from the emotion of it and see the reality of what’s been happening, which is, man, that is a bad precedent to set,” he said.

Hansen said he expects to be on a call with Kinzinger and other county GOP chairs in the coming days. He said he hopes the congressman can “calm down the real fired-up faction of our base.”

The congressman also offered some more insight on his goals with his new political action committee Country First. He said he hopes to back other candidates for office, but he added there will be a couple of rules to win his support.

“You’ve got to commit to telling people the truth, and you’ve got to commit to not peddling conspiracy theories,” Kinzinger said. “It seems like a low bar, but unfortunately, even that low bar eliminates a lot of people.”

As for his own political future, while there has been much speculation about his ambitions to run for statewide office, Kinzinger said that’s not his intention, although he didn’t rule out the possibility.

Kinzinger said his ultimate goal is to “build a movement” and make a party with no place for white supremacy or conspiracy theories such as QAnon, which contribute to violent acts such as what occurred on Jan. 6. He added he’s not making these appeals to be a “hero.”

“I’m doing something that I think should be actually a basic job of a member of Congress,” he said. “But I am putting it all on the line, because quite honestly, at the end of my life, I need to look in the mirror and know I did everything I could with the privilege that I have to be able to serve in this position.”