The former Republican representative Adam Kinzinger has endorsed Joe Biden for president, as the Biden campaign attempts to win over anti-Trump voters ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
In a video released on Wednesday, Kinzinger said he was a “proud conservative” who had put “democracy and our constitution above all else.
“And it’s because of my unwavering support for democracy that today, as a proud conservative, I’m endorsing Joe Biden for re-election,” Kinzinger said.
Kinzinger warned that former president Donald Trump poses a “direct threat to every fundamental American value.
“He doesn’t care about our country. He doesn’t care about you. He only cares about himself,” Kinzinger added.
Biden acknowledged Kinzinger’s endorsement in a reply on X.
“This is what putting your country before your party looks like. I’m grateful for your endorsement, Adam,” Biden said.
Kinzinger’s announcement has received predictable flak from far-right Republicans.
In a reply to the endorsement, Representative Majorie Taylor Greene of Georgia said: “Oh look, Kinzinger finally came out of the closet. As usual, we knew all along, so not a surprise and none of us care.”
Kinzinger has remained one of the most staunch Republican critics of Trump.
Following the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol, Kinzinger publicly denounced Trump for inciting “an angry mob” with false claims of stolen election results. Kinzinger was also among 10 Republicans who voted to impeach Trump.
Later, Kinzinger and Republican representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming were the only two Republicans who joined a committee to investigate the Capitol insurrection.
Kinzinger later announced he would not seek re-election in 2021 after facing a potential primary challenge from a pro-Trump candidate due to changes in district mapping.
In a February interview with the Guardian, the former congressman warned that a second Trump term would be “devastating for the world order”.
“The best-case scenario is a completely inept, ineffective government,” Kinzinger said.
“The worst-case scenario is look, in his four-year term, he did not understand what he was doing. He was just trying to survive and he actually listened to people around him until the end. Now he’s going to put people around him that share his views, that will only reaffirm his views and, frankly, some of these people are pretty smart and they know how to work around the constitution or around the law to bring these authoritarian measures in.”
Kinzinger’s announcement comes weeks after the Biden-Harris campaign announced that Kinzinger’s former chief of staff Austin Weatherford would be running the Biden campaign’s outreach to Republican voters.
