It was an unusual turn of events: after being swept into Congress in 2010, thanks to the support of the Tea Party movement, Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) now saw himself pitted against the same groups in a brutal primary against fellow Republican Congressman Don Manzullo.
Redistricting put 10-term incumbent Manzullo and freshman Kinzinger in the same newly drawn district, setting up a Member-on-Member cut throat primary in Illinois’ 16th district, with Kinzinger coming out the ultimate victor after yesterday’s Illinois primary.
In a controversial move, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor stepped in to support Kinzinger in the final days of the campaign. Cantor sent $50,000 his way for advertising from his ‘Young Guns’ Super PAC and called 34-year-old Kinzinger a “new breed of conservative.”
His endorsement didn’t come without blowback. Manzullo told The Hill Cantor should resign as House Majority Leader for getting involved in a primary. He even alleged that Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), who serves as House Majority Whip, – a co-founder of the National Republican Campaign Committee’s original ‘Young Guns’ effort – was “madder than hell” at the Majority Leader’s public support for Kinzinger.
Manzullo, on the other hand, received some unlikely support from the Washington-based national Tea Party-aligned FreedomWorks, the Illinois Tea Party and the American Conservative Union’s PAC. Influential conservative blogger Erick Erickson at RedState wrote about the race at least twice, asking conservatives in one piece to “mobilize” to help Manzullo and alleging in another that Kinzinger “finally admits he’s not conservative.”
Geographically, the odds weren’t in Kinzinger’s favor at the outset. The newly redrawn IL-16 is comprised of only 31 percent of Kinzinger’s old district while 44 percent of the new district is from Manzullo’s old turf.
But momentum from the support of Cantor and others – with Kinzinger’s appeal as someone who could bring new blood to the GOP – helped Kinzinger carry the day over veteran Manzullo. Kinzinger ended up trouncing Manzullo with 56 percent of the vote to Manzullo’s 44 percent.
“This is a brand new day for the Illinois Republican Party,” said Kinzinger on Tuesday. “Tonight we send a message to our party that here in Illinois, there will be a new generation of Republican leaders and we will fight to provide a better tomorrow for future generations. We’ve made clear the status quo is no longer acceptable.”
