Will County Republicans Censure Kinzinger In Landslide Vote

JOLIET, IL — The Will County Republican Party issued a news release Saturday evening announcing its central committee voted Thursday to censure the actions of Congressman Adam Kinzinger, the six-term Republican who represents the 16th district of Illinois.

Kinzinger is from Channahon.

"Rep. Kinzinger’s feelings about former President Donald J. Trump is well known. We witnessed the support and then subsequent bashing of President Trump, after he refused to appoint Kinzinger as the Secretary of the Air Force," Will County's GOP announced.

"The last straw was Kinzinger’s unconstitutional impeachment support against Donald Trump that quickly escalated to attacks on other duly elected Republicans in the Senate and Trump supporters. The Congressman’s launching of a Political Action Committee (PAC) to go after conservative, patriot Republicans demonstrates he no longer represents the 9,000 plus voters in the Will County portion of the district that supported President Trump. He disregarded other elected Republican voters' wishes across the United States in furtherance."

As Patch has reported, the Will County Republican congressman who just won re-election in November, unlike Trump, has taken to Twitter to get his message to the masses. Kinzinger has made a number of bold Twitter posts that are unfavorable to Trump, but are gaining more and more national attention over the past three months.

On Nov. 29, Kinzinger used his Twitter account to declare,"The @FBI did not rig the election. If you find yourself believing they did, please stop, and say it out loud, and you will realize how silly it sounds. @realDonaldTrump simply flooding the zone with baseless conspiracies."

However, Kinzinger's continued forceful criticisms of Trump have started to cause problems for Kinzinger, even within his own family.

On Feb. 17, Patch reported that several members of the Channahon Republican Congressman's own family were so displeased with his outspokenness toward his own political party and former President Trump that several of them signed a letter calling Kinzinger a disappointment to God.

On Saturday night, Kinzinger retweeted Joliet Patch's article about the Will County Republican Party. He offered the following comments to his nearly 290,000 Twitter followers:

According to the Will County GOP, the censure vote of Kinzinger was 111 to 5 with one abstention.

"Our censure is a formal rebuke against his unilateral actions to raise money and attack over 74 million Americans and their elected Republican officials who supported Trump’s take-action and broker no BS attitude from the D.C. swamp. Our censure also states that we will work hard in the Primary to elect a Representative for the People, by the People.

"Rep. Kinzinger’s remarks about the Will County GOP leadership as being inept hold some merit. As one of the elected Will County GOP leaders since 2010, Kinzinger has not walked a precinct nor attended a Will County meeting for over six years. He is speaking directly to his failure as well as his lack of understanding of how Democrats were allowed to carve up Will County into six various congressional districts with 12 Senate Districts, 15 Representative Districts. This is key to the failure of previous go-along-to-get-along Republican leaders."

The Will County GOP suggested Kinzinger's actions have been "selfish and self-centered in the hope of helping him move into a bigger governmental office like the U.S. Senate.

"It has never been about representing the people of Illinois nor the 16th CD; it is all about Kinzinger," Will County GOP leaders announced.

Saturday's news release was issued by Will County Republican Party Chairman George Pearson.