Adam Kinzinger did not want to serve on the bipartisan committee to investigate the 2021 United States Capitol attack. In fact, he prayed that he would not be appointed.
“I didn’t want to serve on the committee because I knew the cost,” he said. “But I have a kid … I didn’t have a choice. I knew I had to take that position on the committee because I knew that this moment in accountability for democracy is what mattered most.”
Kinzinger, who served six terms as a Republican U.S. representative for Illinois from 2011 to 2023, recounted that experience on Tuesday night as he addressed a crowd in Roanoke College’s Olin Theater. The guest lecture, titled “Defending Democracy and Defeating Toxic Tribalism,” was presented by the College’s Henry H. Fowler Public Affairs Lecture Series and the Center for Policy, Ethics and Law.
For an hour, Kinzinger paced the stage and talked about the Capitol insurrection, the importance of defending American democracy, and why he’s optimistic about a brighter future ahead. Following the talk, he took questions from the audience and signed copies of his book, “Renegade: Defending Democracy and Liberty in Our Divided Country.”
Kinzinger served in the Air Force in Iraq prior to his political career, and he recently retired as a pilot and lieutenant colonel from the Air National Guard. As he opened his talk, he mentioned that he flew himself into Roanoke for the visit and was taken by the gorgeous Blue Ridge Mountain scenery.
Kinzinger was on the floor of Congress on Jan. 6, 2021, as the attack commenced outside. He ended up barricading himself in his office with a gun – the only time, he said, he ever took his firearm to the Capitol. He said the incident made him consider something he’s never thought possible: that he may have to defend himself against fellow Americans.
“As a military officer, that’s not something you ever want to entertain,” he said, “but that’s where I found myself at that moment.”
When he decided to serve on the select committee, it marked a turning point in his life. He specifically addressed the students in the audience when he said, “There are very few moments in our lives – but everybody has these moments – where you will make a decision that will pivot you on a dime, and it will determine who you are as a person.”
“The young generation is unique in that they’re not buying into the Republican/Democrat thing. They have their own ideas on stuff, and I think they’re going to revolutionize this country.”
Former Congressman Adam Kinzinger
Adam Kinzinger chats with Roanoke College students and President Frank Shushok Jr. in the President's Dining Room prior to his lecture.
Kinzinger would be one of only 10 Republicans who voted to impeach President Donald Trump following the insurrection, and one of two who served on the committee. The “cost” he mentioned for those activities included death threats against his toddler son and being disowned by part of his family. His co-pilot in Iraq texted him and said he was ashamed to have ever flown with him.
But Kinzinger doesn’t regret his decision because of his duty to America and the importance of defending democracy. America has a critical mission, he said, to be an example of self-governance to billions of people around the world who are desperate for that example. The day of the Capitol riot was a “really bad day,” he said, but “democracies aren’t defined by bad days. We are defined by how we take accountability for those bad days and what we learn from them, how we come back and how we commit ourselves to never do something like that again.”
Despite the political polarization in America, Kinzinger believes the next generation is poised to usher in a new era. “The young generation is unique in that they’re not buying into the Republican/Democrat thing,” he said. “They have their own ideas on stuff, and I think they’re going to revolutionize this country.”
Kinzinger also said he is inspired by the bravery of Ukrainians from all walks of life who have joined forces to defend their own country, and by the examples of previous generations of Americans who served in the Civil War, the two world wars, Vietnam and Korea.
“If you can have four guys standing next to each other in Ukraine willing to die for their country,” he said, “I can’t help but believe that there are going to be people in this country that are going to step up and do what we have to do to defend it, as well… Just keep in mind that no generation of Americans has ever failed, and I am damn convinced we won’t be the first.”