Adam Kinzinger says ‘this isn’t a win for Donald Trump’

U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Channahon, responded to Donald Trump this weekend by saying the congressman’s choice not to run for reelection is not a win for the former president.

Kinzinger, a critic of Trump’s, said Friday he would not seek a seventh term in Congress, prompting Trump to say “two down, eight to go,” making reference to the 10 members of the GOP who voted in favor of his second impeachment.

Kinzinger said, “I’m not going anywhere.”

“This isn’t resignation, concession or giving up,” Kinzinger told The Hill reporter Andrew Solender and then tweeted the response Sunday. “This isn’t a win for Donald Trump, no matter what his Mar-a-Lago spin machine says.”

Kinzinger said he has more than a year to serve in his term.

In a nearly five-minute video posted Friday morning to social media, the congressman said, “I want to make this clear, this isn’t the ending of my political future but the beginning.”

Kinzinger, an Iraq War veteran and pilot in the Wisconsin Air National Guard, has been at odds with Republican Party leaders at times since after the November election.

The congressman said he will continue to lead the Country First movement he created after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, which promotes “country over party.” Kinzinger sits on a committee charged with investigating the riot at the Capitol, joining Republican U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming as the panel’s lone Republicans.

Kinzinger said the decision not to seek another term had to do with committing more energy to his Country First PAC.