Former GOP congressman endorses President Biden hours before Trump debate

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Former GOP congressman Adam Kinzinger endorsed President Joe Biden on Wednesday only hours before the 46th U.S. president debates his GOP predecessor, Donald Trump, in Atlanta.

According to the Associated Press, Kinzinger is a military pilot who emerged as a fierce Trump critic after the Jan. 6, 2020 Capitol riot.

Kinzinger has now joined former Georgia lieutenant governor Geoff Duncan in his support of Biden over Trump. The two men, along with former Capitol Hill police officer Harry Dunn, are holding a news conference Wednesday afternoon. Dunn was on duty during the deadly Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol Hill riot.

Kinzinger said it wasn’t about politics, but about defending the “importance of defending democracy.”

“Sometimes that means taking somebody and endorsing them that you didn’t think you’d endorse three years ago,” he said in front of the south steps of the Georgia Capitol. “But I tell you what, I am proud to stand up here today as a conservative Republican and endorse Joe Biden for re election to president of the United States.”

In a social media video announcing his Biden endorsement, Kinzinger said Trump is “a direct threat to every fundamental American value.”

“While I certainly don’t agree with President Biden on everything, and I never thought I’d be endorsing a Democrat for president, I know that he will always protect the very thing that makes America the best country in the world: our democracy,” said Kinzinger, who voted for Trump in 2020.

Kinzinger becomes the highest-profile Republican official formally backing Biden, whose campaign earlier in the month tapped Kinzinger’s former chief of staff Austin Weatherford to serve as its national Republican outreach director.

Duncan endorsed Biden last month. The former state senator served one term as lieutenant governor before choosing not to run for reelection. Like Kinzinger, he has emerged as a critic of Trump and has since become a contributor to CNN and an occasional op-ed writer for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

“Going against the grain as a Republican and supporting Joe Biden for president is not easy, but I’m not looking at this election through the lens of being a Republican, I’m looking through the lens of being an American,” said Duncan. “An American that cares more about the future of my country than the morally bankrupt nominee of my party.”

“Let me speak directly to the millions of Republicans across the country who are tired of making excuses for Donald Trump’s behavior at their churches, in their offices, and at their own kitchen tables. Enough is enough. The nightmare has to end and it has to end now.”

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