GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger says he felt 'dirty' voting for Trump in 2020, but at the time he wanted to 'have credit with the base'

• Adam Kinzinger says he felt "dirty" after voting for Trump in the 2020 presidential election.
• Kinzinger, who has become a vocal Trump critic, said he was thinking about his district at the time.

Rep. Adam Kinzinger on Friday said he felt "dirty" after voting for former President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, but made his decision at the time partly to "have credit" with the GOP base.

During an interview with The Washington Post, the Illinois Republican expressed regret for backing Trump that fall, stating that he pulled the lever for the former president so he could "say with a straight face" that he voted for him.

Kinzinger said that his thinking at the time was based on the sentiments of his constituents in the conservative-leaning 16th congressional district, which mostly covers Chicago suburbs.

"I know he is not going to win, but I can say I did it. And so I have credit with the base," he said as he explained his justification.

When Kinzinger asked if the vote for Trump made him a "political coward," he agreed with the description.

"Yeah, I was. Yeah, absolutely," he told The Washington Post, adding that backing Trump made him feel "dirty."

"It's not something I can square away in my soul fully," he said.

Kinzinger also remarked on how he pointed to Democrats as a way to justify his opposition to Trump's first impeachment proceeding in 2019.

He said in the interview that he voted against impeachment because he was fearful of how his constituents would respond to his deviation from the conservative path.

"It's like I knew, if I voted for that, I was done," he told the newspaper.

While speaking with Rolling Stone last November, Kinzinger admitted that he would have voted to impeach during the first impeachment proceeding if he could do things differently.

"I think the big thing was, obviously, in the first impeachment with Ukraine — I want to be clear — If I went back in time, I would vote for the first impeachment," he said at the time. "That is a regret I have, that I didn't."

While Kinzinger is regretful of his vote in Trump's first impeachment proceeding – he didn't hold back in his criticism of the former president when it came to the January 6 riot — becoming one of only 10 House Republicans to support his impeachment for "incitement of insurrection."

The Senate went on to acquit Trump in a 57-43 vote.

However, Kinzinger has remained an outspoken critic of Trump and has become one of the most recognizable GOP faces in a Democratic-led Congress after joining Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming as one of two Republicans on the House January 6 committee.

Over the past year, he has publicly spoken about the fallout of his repudiation of Trump, pointing to disputes within his family, the long-term viability of the GOP, and threats that he has received against his immediate family stemming from his work in Washington, DC.

After the lines of his district were redrawn by the Illinois legislature through redistricting, Kinzinger decided to retire at the end of the current session of Congress.