Kinzinger launches campaign ad

Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) (R) hosts a news conference with fellow House Republican freshmen in Washington, DC. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

BLOOMINGTON – U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Manteno, has a new campaign commercial for his re-election campaign, but most of Central Illinois won’t see it.

That’s because the district he’s vying for, the 16th, includes Livingston and LaSalle counties but stretches north to Wisconsin. Kinzinger is facing 10-term incumbent Rep. Don Manzullo, R-Egan, in the March primary.

“The voters of the new 16th District have a choice,” Kinzinger said. “They can either send someone who’s part of the 87-freshman class that really went there to hold our leadership accountable, to hold everyone accountable and get our fiscal house in order, or they could elect someone who’s been there for 20 years.”

Manzullo was first elected to Congress in 1993. He spoke to potential new voters in the 16th District at the Bureau LaSalle Tea Party. There, he was introduced as a “taxpayer hero.”

Kinzinger said Manzullo was the No1. congressman from Illinois requesting federal earmarks. Manzullo has a American Conservative Union rating of 92 percent in 2010.

Kinzinger is using his Tea Party backing and one-term in his campaign, saying the freshman class changed the conversation in Washington from spending to cutting. Manzullo is also getting support from some Tea Party members in the new district. The primary is March 20.

To listen to Kinzinger’s interview with WJBC’s Scott Laughlin and Colleen Reynolds, click below.

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Stephanie Pawlowski can be reached at Stephanie@wjbc.com.