Adam Kinzinger

Adam Daniel Kinzinger (born February 27, 1978) is the U.S. Representative for IL's 16th congressional district. He is a member of the Republican Party.

Early life, education, and early political career
Kinzinger was born in 1978 in Kankakee, but raised in Bloomington, Illinois. He graduated from Normal Community West High School and earned a bachelor's degree from Illinois State University in 2000. He served as an intern for former U.S. Senator Peter Fitzgerald as part of a program offered at Illinois State.

In 2003, he joined the United States Air Force. He was commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in November 2003 and later awarded his pilot wings. Kinzinger was initially a KC-135 Stratotanker pilot and flew missions in South America, Guam, Iraq and Afghanistan. He later switched to flying the RC-26 surveillance aircraft and was stationed in Iraq twice. Kinzinger has served in the Air Force Special Operations Command, Air Combat Command, Air Mobility Command, and Air National Guard and was progressively promoted to his current rank of Major.

Kinzinger served as a County Board member in McLean County, Illinois from 1998 to 2003. Kinzinger defeated an incumbent County Board member in 1998 while still a student at Illinois State. Kinzinger served in that role until 2003 when he elected to serve full-time in the U.S. Air Force.

Elections

 * 2010

In January 2009, Kinzinger met with Republican U.S. Congressmen Mike Pence, Mark Kirk, and Peter Roskam to discuss a possible run for Congress. Kinzinger decided to run in Illinois' 11th congressional district, held by Democrat Debbie Halvorson. He started campaigning full-time in May 2009, when he returned home from his 3rd tour in Iraq. In the early autumn, Kinzinger held eight town halls across the 11th Congressional District that were attended by nearly 2,000 people. He was endorsed by former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. On February 2, 2010, Kinzinger won the five-candidate Republican primary with 64% of the vote.

In the general election, he was endorsed by the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times. On November 2, 2010, Kinzinger defeated Halvorson 57%-43%.


 * 2012

After redistricting, he decided to run in the newly redrawn Illinois' 16th congressional district. He faced fellow U.S. Congressman Don Manzullo, a 67 year old politician first elected in 1992, in the March primary. Kinzinger currently represents 31% of the district, while Manzullo has represented at least 44% of the district in the past ten years. Kinzinger defeated the longtime incumbent 56%-44%. In the general election, he defeated Democrat Wanda Rohl and won re-election to a second term, 62%-38%.

Tenure
Kinzinger sponsored the Veteran Emergency Medical Technician Support Act of 2013, H.R. 235 in the 113th Congress. This legislation would make it easier for veterans with emergency medical technician training in the military to get civilian licenses to perform the same job outside of the military. The bill passed the House of Representatives by a voice vote on February 12, 2013 and was referred to the United States Senate.

Kinzinger is a member of both the Republican Study Committee and Republican Main Street Partnership.

Committee assignments

 * Committee on Energy and Commerce
 * Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade
 * Subcommittee on Communications and Technology
 * Subcommittee on Energy and Power


 * '''Committee on Foreign Affairs
 * Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa
 * Subcommittee on Terrorism, Nonproliferation, and Trade

Personal life
In 2006, the Wisconsin Red Cross named Kinzinger "Hero of the Year" for wrestling a knife-wielding man to the ground and disarming him. The man had cut the throat of a woman on a street in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Recalling the event in an ABC Milwaukee interview, Kinzinger stated "The whole time it was, to me, kind of a done deal that I was going to get stabbed in the process, but I knew that this wasn't something I could wake up to...everyday with that memory that I watched her die." The woman survived. For this act Kinzinger also received the United States Air Force Airman's Medal and the National Guard's Valley Forge Cross for Heroism.