GOP former Rep. Adam Kinzinger endorses Biden, whose campaign wants to flip anti-Trump Republicans

NEW YORK (AP) — Republican former congressman Adam Kinzinger endorsed President Joe Biden on Wednesday, giving the Democrat a prominent new ally in his high-stakes campaign to win over moderate Republicans and independents this fall.

Kinzinger, a military pilot who emerged as a fierce critic of former President Donald Trump after the U.S. Capitol was attacked by Trump's supporters, described Trump as “a direct threat to every fundamental American value” in a video announcing the Biden endorsement.

“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.

The former Illinois congressman also issued an ominous warning. Trump, he said, will “hurt anyone or anything in pursuit of power.”

Kinzinger's announcement comes on the eve of the opening presidential debate and gives Biden an example he can raise Thursday night of a well-known Republican supporting him over Trump. Biden’s camp is prioritizing outreach to moderate Republicans and independents alienated by Trump’s tumultuous White House tenure.

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. Republican former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan also endorsed Biden last month.

Ultimately, a number of prominent Republicans are expected to join Biden's campaign, with more influential names likely to be announced closer to the November election.

Shortly after Kinzinger announced his decision, Biden shared the endorsement video on social media and said he was grateful for the Republican's support.

“This is what putting your country before your party looks like,” Biden wrote on X.

Biden's team is trying to create what it calls “a permission structure” for Republican voters who would otherwise have a difficult time casting a ballot for the Democratic president.

Kinzinger developed a national profile as one of two Republicans who served on the House's committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack. The committee highlighted a number of Trump's transgressions before and during the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol as Congress tried to certify the election results for Biden.

Kinzinger, who did not seek reelection in 2022 after voting to impeach Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 attack, called on the GOP to change course.

“To every American of every political party and those of none, I say now is not the time to watch quietly as Donald Trump threatens the future of America,” said Kinzinger, who repeatedly described himself as a conservative in the video. “Now is the time to unite behind Joe Biden and show Donald Trump off the stage once and for all.”

In a statement Wednesday, Biden campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez described Kinzinger as “a true public servant who is a model for putting our country and our democracy over party and blind acquiescence to Trump.”

“Congressman Kinzinger represents the countless Americans that Donald Trump’s Republican Party have left behind," she said. “Those Americans have a home in President Biden’s coalition, and our campaign knows that we need to show up and earn their support.”

Trump and his allies have long dismissed Kinzinger's efforts to rally Republicans against him. The former president publicly celebrated when Kinzinger didn't seek reelection and has called for the prosecution of Kinzinger and others who served on the Jan. 6 committee, part of his pattern of suggesting his opponents face government retribution.

Biden has been particularly focused on courting supporters of Republican former presidential candidate Nikki Haley, who continued to win over a significant number of anti-Trump GOP primary voters throughout the spring even after suspending her campaign.

As part of Biden’s sustained outreach to moderate voters in both parties, his campaign released an ad highlighting Trump’s often-personal attacks against Haley, including his primary nickname of her as “birdbrain” and suggestion that “she’s not presidential timber.”

Haley last month said she will vote for Trump in the general election.

Indeed, Trump’s grip on his party’s passionate base is stronger than ever. And the overwhelming majority of Republican elected officials are backing his 2024 campaign, even those few, like Haley, who worked against him in the primary phase of the campaign.

Follow the AP's coverage of the 2024 election at https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.

FILE -Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., speaks as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds its final meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington, Dec. 19, 2022. Kinzinger, former congressman, endorsed President Joe Biden on Wednesday, giving the Democrat a prominent new ally in his high-stakes campaign to win over moderate Republicans and independents this fall. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

FILE - Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., speaks as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol Hill in Washington on Dec. 19, 2022. The former congressman, Kinzinger, endorsed President Joe Biden on Wednesday, June 26, 2024, giving the Democrat a prominent new ally in his high-stakes campaign to win over moderate Republicans and independents this fall. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Christie Raleigh Crossley was watching a documentary recently in which basketball star Sue Bird mentioned how every time she was selected to Team USA for the Olympics, she felt like a kid again.

When the scene was over, Raleigh Crossley paused her TV and cried. She thought about the injuries, the surgeries and the impairments that rendered impossible her childhood Olympic dream. Later, though, came a sense of peace. “I wasn’t sitting there going, ‘I’m never going to be an Olympian,’” she said.

This week in the Freeman Aquatics Center at the University of Minnesota, Raleigh Crossley has instead set her sights on reaching the biggest stage in adaptive athletics with victories at the U.S. Paralympic swim trials. A trip to Paris for the 2024 Paralympics could finally fulfill her ambition.

Raleigh Crossley’s dream of being an Olympic swimmer began at age 9, watching the Atlanta Games. The native of Toms River, New Jersey, had an ability in the water that landed her at Florida State, where she won the ACC Freshman of the Year award and was named an All-American twice.

But accidents in 2007 and then 2008 hurt her badly. In the first, Raleigh Crossley sustained back and neck injuries from a car crash in which she was hit by a drunken driver. The following year, she was the victim of a pedestrian hit-and-run and sustained a brain injury.

Still, Raleigh Crossley won a Division III national title at Rowan University before her college eligibility was exhausted.

Through her collegiate career and beyond, the aspiration to be an Olympian never wavered. But after training with Michael Phelps and other swimmers returning from the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Raleigh Crossley decided to start a family – she now has three children.

Raleigh Crossley began to think about one more shot at Olympic qualifying, but in December 2018 she experienced partial paralysis from a brain tumor. After surgery, she returned to the pool to prepare for the 2020 trials, only to find she had no control over her left arm when swimming. Her quest for Tokyo was abandoned after just 50 meters in the water.

Raleigh Crossley watched the Tokyo Paralympics from her home and was intrigued by the commentary of former Paralympic swimmer Michelle Konkoly. She called Konkoly’s coach, Paul Yetter, shortly thereafter and asked if she could simply avoid using her nonfunctioning arm while in the water.

“He was like, ‘it could work,’” Raleigh Crossley recalled of their conversation. “My entire para career, I’ve trained with just one arm."

Raleigh Crossley began working toward getting to Paris two years ago. A few American records and a 100-meter backstroke world championship later, she seems likely to claim a spot when the U.S. para-swim team is announced on Sunday. Through Friday she had won both the 100-meter backstroke and 100-meter freestyle in her class at the Paralympic trials.

Every Paralympian has a story behind why they are in the Games. Raleigh Crossley has the unusual perspective of a decorated career as an able-bodied swimmer before competing in para events.

“There’s muscle memory, that left arm will do whatever,” Raleigh Crossley noted of her new swimming style. “But if I focus on my right (arm), then I know that that side at least is where my power is.”

Raleigh Crossley’s coach, Wilma Wong, has worked with several Paralympic swimmers.

“Every human has a part of their body that is not equal,” Wong said. “You’re always working with some sort of discrepancy, it’s just that the discrepancy is a little bit bigger when someone has a physical impairment.”

Raleigh Crossley acknowledged that the adjustment to one-armed swimming was a massive mental block to navigate. “In the past, I have been a little stubborn and hard-headed,” she admitted. “It was taking other people going, ‘I don’t think that’s what’s working best, try this,’ and going, ‘I’m going to trust in you on that.’”

At age 37, it all seems to be coming together physically for Raleigh Crossley. Emotionally, it’s still a journey. She said the proximity of her lifelong goal only really set in for her when swimming in her first preliminary round at the trials on Thursday.

“In the warm down pool, I told my coach, ‘I’m going to do a 500 (meter),’ she said. “I’ve got tears to cry.”

Jack Rachinsky is a student in the John Curley Center for Sports Journalism at Penn State.

AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games

Christie Raleigh Crossley swims during the women's 100 freestyle at the 2024 U.S. Paralympic Swim Team Trials in Minneapolis on Friday, June 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Jackson Ranger)

Christie Raleigh Crossley waits on the block before swimming the Women's 100 freestyle at the 2024 U.S. Paralympic Swim Team Trials in Minneapolis, Friday, June 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Leighton Smithwick)

Christie Raleigh Crossley raises her hand before swimming the Women's 100 freestyle at the 2024 U.S. Paralympic Swim Team Trials in Minneapolis, Friday, June 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Leighton Smithwick)

Christie Raleigh Crossley swims the Women's 100 freestyle at the 2024 U.S. Paralympic Swim Team Trials in Minneapolis, Friday, June 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Leighton Smithwick)

Christie Raleigh Crossley talks with her coach at the 2024 U.S. Paralympic Swim Team Trials in Minneapolis, Friday, June 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Leighton Smithwick)