Adam Kinzinger insists DeSantis not 'the future of the Republican Party' despite midterm gains

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Adam Kinzinger: 'I don't' see DeSantis as the future of the Republican Party

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., argued on CNN that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis does not represent the future of the GOP despite DeSantis' victory in the midterm elections.

Twitter users mocked Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger after the Republican insisted Wednesday that Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., was not the future of his political party.

Kinzinger appeared on CNN’s coverage of the midterm elections speaking with anchor Anderson Cooper about the results from the previous night. One notable focus included DeSantis' landslide victory in Florida and what that could mean for conservatives.

"Governor Ron DeSantis obviously won big in Florida, including getting a lot of Latino votes. Do you think, I mean, do you see him as the future of the Republican Party?" Cooper asked.

"Yeah. Well, I don’t," Kinzinger responded. 

Conservatives rushed to Twitter on Tuesday to spike the football when GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis was projected to defeat Charlie Crist to secure another term as Florida’s chief executive. (James Gilbert/Getty Images)

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He continued, "But I think, you know, certainly he’s probably in the lead right now, kind of a bit of a front-runner status. Again, I think what we’re going to see over the next week is, you know, how does Donald Trump pivot from this, because he’s certainly not going to take his loss. He’s going to try to throw DeSantis under the bus. He’s certainly going to go after [House GOP Leader Kevin] McCarthy. And if he’s able to do that successfully, and he has been over the last number of times, then again, Ron DeSantis, is going to have a kind of a short-lived victory here." 

Social media users piled on Kinzinger for suggesting that DeSantis doesn’t represent a future for the Republicans.

Grabien founder Tom Elliot joked, "Good indicator for DeSantis: @RepKinzinger says he's not the future of the Republican Party."

"Resistance s***poster Adam Kinzinger has thoughts after telling himself in the mirror that he's Captain America," NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck tweeted.

"And now you know it's a grift and a game," The Spectator contributing editor Stephen Miller wrote.

NewsBusters executive editor Tim Graham commented, "You have to smirk at failed Republicans from Illinois (Kinzinger, Joe Walsh) telling the libs what Republicans want."

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., argued Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is not the future of the Republican Party. (CNN)

"He is such an unserious person," Twitter personality Noam Blum wrote.

National Review correspondent Jim Geraghty tweeted, "Mmm, indeed, Ron DeSantis won almost no votes outside of the state of Florida last night. Cunning insight, right there."

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DeSantis’ victory was considered a "landslide" by many reporters after he won the previously left-leaning Miami-Dade County. The last Republican governor to win the county was former Gov. Jeb Bush in 2002.

Many have cited DeSantis’ gains with Latino voters as a factor in his massive strides within the state despite media attempts to downplay the results.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gives a victory speech after defeating Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rep. Charlie Crist during his election night watch party at the Tampa Convention Center  in Tampa, Florida, on Tuesday. (Octavio Jones/Getty Images)

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Though Kinzinger did not downplay DeSantis’ victory, he emphasized that other midterm results suggested the country does not want a "Ron DeSantis type."

"I think it’s important, though, this is not, you know, Ron DeSantis winning big was huge and congratulations to him. It’s not necessarily a message that we saw last night, though, that the rest of the country wants necessarily Ron DeSantis-type, I guess, leadership, I’ll call it. I think he has a real opportunity to take the Republican nomination to win the presidency. But it’s not going to be kind of this in-your-face thing that we’ve seen from Donald Trump. This is what we saw last night," Kinzinger said.