A Department of Commerce employee who served in former president Donald Trump‘s administration will mount a primary challenge against Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., Fox News reported.
Kinzinger, a little-known figure outside his district, transformed into the mainstream media darling for leftist cable-news outlets after he began launching intra-party attacks on Trump in the weeks prior to the Jan. 6 uprising at the US Capitol.
Afterward, he and nine GOP colleagues joined House Democrats to pass the impeachment article claiming Trump incited the violence. However, it failed to clear the Senate threshold needed for a conviction.
Calling Kinzinger a “weak-kneed, establishment Republican,” Catalina Lauf, 27, on Tuesday announced her campaign to unseat the turncoat Republican in Illinois’ 16th Congressional District.
“I never thought I’d primary a fellow Republican, but is Congressman Kinzinger really a Republican anymore? He isn’t and we have the proof,” Lauf said in an announcement video on Twitter.
Lauf said Kinzinger opposes Trump’s “America First” agenda and “cares more about his next MSNBC appearance than the voters who elected him.”
Kinzinger aligns with the Lincoln Project/NeverTrump wing of the Republican Party, even creating a “Country 1st” PAC that will try to defeat the party’s pro-Trump candidates.
Lauf said his voting record demonstrates his opposition to America First, since he sided with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., on “one in three votes.”
“Instead of being in our fight, Adam betrayed his constituents for a life in the D.C. swamp,” Lauf said.
Kinzinger has held the 16th district’s seat since its creation in 2012, winning each election by more than 10 points.
The safe-Republican district last elected a Democratic representative in 1993 and last voted for a Democratic presidential candidate in 2008.
The winner of the Republican primary will likely win the general election.
“He said impeachment was ‘necessary to save America.’ What?” Lauf said. “You know what I think is necessary to save America, Adam? Setting term limits for people like you and the rest of your friends out. Six terms in Congress is enough.”
