Adam Daniel Kinzinger^[1] /ˈkɪnzɪŋər/ (born February 27, 1978)^[2] is the U.S. Representative for Illinois's 16th congressional district. He is a member of the Republican Party. He was first elected to Congress in 2010, winning election to represent Illinois's 11th congressional district. After redistricting, he was re-elected to Congress in 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018 to represent Illinois's 16th congressional district.

Kinzinger was born in 1978 in Kankakee, the son of Betty Jo, an elementary school teacher, and Rus Kinzinger, a CEO of faith-based organizations.^[3][4] In his youth, after spending some time in Jacksonville, Florida, he was primarily raised in Bloomington, Illinois. He graduated from Normal Community West High School in 1996^[5] and earned a bachelor's degree from Illinois State University in 2000.^[6]

In 1998, while a student at Illinois State, Kinzinger ran for election as a County Board member in McLean County, Illinois. He won, and was one of the youngest serving county board members in McLean County history^[7], defeating an incumbent County Board member. Kinzinger remained on the Board until 2003.^[8]

Kinzinger worked as an intern for former U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald shortly after his graduation from Illinois State, as part of a program offered there.^[9]

In 2003, Kinzinger joined the United States Air Force. He was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in November 2003 and later awarded his pilot wings. Kinzinger was initially a KC-135 Stratotanker pilot and flew missions in South America, Guam, Iraq and Afghanistan. He later switched to flying the RC-26 surveillance aircraft and was stationed in Iraq twice.^[10]

Kinzinger has served in the Air Force Special Operations Command, Air Combat Command, Air Mobility Command, and Wisconsin Air National Guard and was progressively promoted to his current rank of Lieutenant Colonel.^[11] As part of his continued service with the Air National Guard, in February 2019, Kinzinger was deployed to the US/Mexico border as part of efforts to maintain border security.^[12]

In January 2009, Kinzinger met Republican U.S. Congressmen Mike Pence, Mark Kirk, and Peter Roskam to discuss a possible run for Congress.^[13] Kinzinger decided to run in Illinois' 11th congressional district, held by Democratic U.S. Congresswoman Debbie Halvorson. He started campaigning full-time in May 2009, when he returned home from his 3rd tour in Iraq. He was endorsed by former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. On February 2, 2010, Kinzinger won the five-candidate Republican primary with 64% of the vote.^[14]

In the general election, he was endorsed by the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times. On November 2, 2010, Kinzinger defeated Halvorson 57%–43%.^[15]

During his first term, Kinzinger represented a district that stretched from the outer southern suburbs of Chicago to Bloomington/Normal.

After redistricting, Kinzinger's district was eliminated. Much of its eastern portion, including Kinzinger's home in Channahon, near Joliet, was merged with the Rockford-based 16th District, represented by fellow Republican Don Manzullo, a 67-year-old politician first elected in 1992. Kinzinger had represented 31% of the district, while Manzullo had represented at least 44% of the district, prior to redistricting. In the March Republican primary, Kinzinger defeated Manzullo, 56%–44%.^[16] In the general election, Kinzinger defeated Democrat Wanda Rohl, 62%–38%.^[17]

In 2014, Kinzinger was targeted by the Club for Growth.^[18] In the Republican primary, he faced David Hale, a nurse and founder of the Rockford Tea Party. Kinzinger won with 78% of the vote.^[19][20]

In the general election, Kinzinger faced Democratic nominee Randall Olsen; he won with 71% of the vote.^[21][22]

Kinzinger won the March 2016 Republican primary with 100% of the vote.^[23] No candidates filed for the Democratic primary for his seat.

On August 3, 2016, Kinzinger announced publicly that he would not support GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump. "I'm an American before I'm a Republican," he told CNN's Wolf Blitzer, adding that "I'm a Republican because I believe that Republicanism is the best way to defend the United States of America… [Trump] throws all of these Republican principles on their head." Kinzinger noted, however, that he also would not support Democratic Party presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, and was mulling other options.^[24]

Kinzinger introduced the U.S. House version of the bipartisan bill Countering Foreign Propaganda and Disinformation Act.^[25] The United States Senate version was written in March 2016 by U.S. Senators Chris Murphy and Rob Portman.^[26] After the 2016 U.S. presidential election, worries grew that Russian propaganda spread and organized by the Russian government swayed the outcome of the election, and representatives in the U.S. Congress took action to safeguard the National security of the United States by advancing legislation to monitor incoming propaganda from external threats.^[26][27] On November 30, 2016, legislators approved a measure within the National Defense Authorization Act to ask the U.S. State Department to take action against foreign propaganda through an interagency panel.^[26][27] The legislation authorized funding of $160 million over a two-year-period.^[26] The initiative was developed through the Countering Foreign Propaganda and Disinformation Act.^[26]

Kinzinger defeated Democratic challenger Sara Dady with 59.1 percent of the vote. After the 2018 midterm elections, he was left as the only Republican representing a district north of Peoria.

In 2010 Kinzinger signed a pledge sponsored by Americans for Prosperity promising to vote against any global warming legislation that would raise taxes.^[28]

In 2013, Kinzinger sponsored the Veteran Emergency Medical Technician Support Act of 2013, H.R. 235 in the 113th Congress.^[29] This legislation would make it easier for veterans with emergency medical technician training in the military to get civilian licenses to perform the same job outside of the military. The bill passed the House of Representatives by a voice vote on February 12, 2013 and was referred to the United States Senate.^[30]

On June 5, 2014, Kinzinger introduced a bill (H.R. 4801; 113th Congress) which would require the United States Secretary of Energy to prepare a report on the effects that thermal insulation has on both energy consumption and systems for providing potable water in federal buildings.^[31][32] Kinzinger argued that "with the federal government being the single largest consumer of energy in the country, doing our best to maximize the potential savings from improved insulation systems is a commonsense step I think everybody can agree on."^[32]

Kinzinger is a member of both the Republican Study Committee and the more moderate Republican Main Street Partnership.^[33]

Conservative Review gave Kinzinger's voting record a "Liberty Score" 35%,^[34] while the American Conservative Union (ACU) gave Kinzinger a Lifetime Rating of 59.60 out of 100.^[35] Kinzinger was ranked as the 40th most bipartisan member of the U.S. House of Representatives during the 114th United States Congress (and the third most bipartisan member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois) in the Bipartisan Index created by The Lugar Center and the McCourt School of Public Policy that ranks members of the United States Congress by their degree of bipartisanship (by measuring the frequency each member's bills attract co-sponsors from the opposite party and each member's co-sponsorship of bills by members of the opposite party).^[36]

Kinzinger voted yes on the 2017 GOP Healthcare Bill, a bill that would repeal major parts of Obamacare ^[37]

In December 2017, Kinzinger voted in favor of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.^[38] He supported the act believing that "economic growth is stagnant" and that the tax plan will "provide tax relief to families, small businesses, and individuals here in IL-16 and across the country, and to give our economy the jump start it so desperately needs." Kinzinger estimates, thanks to the bill, that at least 70 percent of his constituents will keep more of their money and that 37,000 new jobs will be created in Illinois.^[39]

Kinzinger is in favor of allowing concealed carry of firearms across state lines where concealed carry is legal.^[46]

Kinzinger supports the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act ("Obamacare").^[46]

Kinzinger opposes the Dodd Frank Act.^[46]

Kinzinger supports penalizing sanctuary cities.^[46]

Kinzinger opposes late term abortion and the use of federal funds for abortion or health coverage that funds abortion.^[46]

Kinzinger has a "B" rating from NORML for his voting history regarding cannabis-related causes. Kinzinger supports veterans having access to medical marijuana if recommended by their Veterans Health Administration doctor and if it is legal for medicinal purposes in their state of residence.^[47]

In 2006, the Wisconsin Red Cross named Kinzinger "Hero of the Year" for wrestling a knife-wielding man to the ground and disarming him. The man had cut the throat of a woman on a street in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin.^[48] Recalling the event in an interview, Kinzinger said "The whole time it was, to me, kind of a done deal that I was going to get stabbed in the process, but I knew that this wasn't something I could wake up to ... everyday with that memory that I watched her die."^[49] The woman survived. For this act Kinzinger also received the United States Air Force Airman's Medal and the National Guard's Valley Forge Cross for Heroism.^[50]

In 2011, Kinzinger was ranked 5th on The Hill's annual "50 Most Beautiful People" list, which ranks anyone who regularly works on Capitol Hill.^[51]

In 2011, Kinzinger became engaged to his girlfriend, a fellow pilot, Air Force Captain Riki Meyers; the engagement was called off in 2012.^[52][53] In June 2019, Kinzinger became engaged to Sofia Boza-Holman, a former aide to John Boehner and aide to Vice President Mike Pence. ^[54]