Congressman Adam Kinzinger. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images Hide caption
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Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Congressman Adam Kinzinger.
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
The NPR Network will be covering the Democratic National Convention live from Chicago throughout the week.
Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) gave a prime-time speech endorsing Harris against the party’s presidential nominee, Donald Trump.
Kinzinger took to the stage to acknowledge he was in an “uneasy alliance” with Democrats, but said he was in it to “protect the truth, to protect democracy and decency.”
Kinzinger, a longtime and vocal critic of Trump, said the former president “suffocated the soul of the Republican Party.”
“Stand with our core values and vote for Kamala Harris,” Kinzinger said, adding that he disagrees with Harris on policy but that his endorsement was just that.
“Whatever policy differences we may have, they pale in comparison to fundamental matters like principle, decency and loyalty to country,” he said.
The Harris campaign, like the Biden campaign at the time, has actively courted moderate Republicans and independents who are skeptical of President Trump’s politics and leadership.
A group of Republicans, including Kinzinger, has rallied in support of Harris, recently holding an online rally under the name of an affinity group called “Republicans for Harris.”
Kinzinger said he had lost confidence in Trump after Jan. 6 and experienced “deep sadness.”
“Donald Trump is a weak man pretending to be strong. A small man pretending to be big. A dishonest man pretending to be righteous. A perpetrator who can’t stop playing the victim,” he said.
