GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger endorses Democrats running against election deniers

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., continued his drive to defeat Republican election deniers and conspiracy mongers, releasing on Tuesday his list of endorsements for the November elections — including Democrats and an independent.

Kinzinger, from Channahon, who did not seek reelection, is running his midterm plays through his Country First political operation. Democracy cannot survive, Kinzinger said Tuesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” when “we live in a bed of lies.”

Kinzinger has not said what he will do when he leaves Congress in January. He is a member of the Jan. 6 Committee probing the Capitol riot, with the panel’s next hearing on Thursday at noon Chicago time.

In a statement, he said: “Country First will be investing in each of these races in the ways it deems most helpful, including fundraising, advertising, texting, grassroots support and GOTV — the same strategy it successfully employed throughout the primaries.”

No Illinois candidates are on Kinzinger’s list.

Kinzinger is focusing on contests featuring election deniers on the ballot. He made picks in four secretary of state contests in swing states — with these elected officials key to overseeing elections in states where former President Donald Trump pushed to overturn the results.

That’s four Democrats — Adrian Fontes in Arizona, Cisco Aguilar in Nevada, Steve Simon in Arizona and Jocelyn Benson of Michigan — and Republican Brad Raffensperger in Georgia, who Kinzinger noted in a statement, “overcame tremendous pressure from Donald Trump and his supporters to ‘find’ enough votes to declare Trump the winner. Few politicians are willing to risk their careers to do the right thing, which is why it’s so important to support those, like Brad Raffensperger, who do.”

His list includes GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, whom Trump is working to defeat in the wake of her impeachment vote, and Senate contender Evan McMullin, a Utah independent running against Sen. Mike Lee, a Republican who is pushing false theories that the 2020 election was rigged.

Also in crucial swing states, Kinzinger is backing for governor Democrats Josh Shapiro in Pennsylvania, whose GOP rival is an election denier, and Katie Hobbs of Arizona.