SALT LAKE CITY — Retiring Rep. Adam Kinzinger of Illinois came to Utah on Thursday to make the case for electing the independent Senate candidate Evan McMullin over incumbent Republican Sen. Mike Lee.
Kinzinger was one of the two Republican House members (along with Wyoming’s Liz Cheney) to accept appointments from Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. That and his outspoken opposition to the actions of former President Donald Trump — including voting to impeach Trump in January 2021 — made Kinzinger an outcast within the House Republican Conference.
“People sometimes come up to me and say, like, ‘Adam, you’re courageous in what you’re doing,’ and I appreciate people saying that. It’s not true, though,” Kinzinger said at an event supporting McMullin. “I’m surrounded by cowards.”
