Adam Kinzinger appears to be on tour. We write “appears” because the Never Trump former Republican congressman never seems to actually get off the speaking circuit. In recent months, the Kinzinger road show has included feature billing as part of a pricey multi-state “speaker series” aimed at affluent progressives willing to pay top dollar to have the opinions they agree with regurgitated before them accompanied by the pleasing sound of warm applause.
Kinzinger’s speaking fee ranges between $30,000 and $50,000 a pop, according to booking agency All American Entertainment Speakers Bureau. Here’s what clients can expect for their money.
“Congressman Kinzinger brings the audience through his thought processes as he witnessed firsthand the changes in our government, and how he made the decision to stand against his own party for the sanctity of his country,” AAE touts. “As one of only two Republicans on the January 6th Committee, Rep. Kinzinger stood against his own party in pursuit of democracy and justice.”
It Pays to Be a Caricature
Yes, the dog-eared “defender of democracy” card continues to be a moneymaker for pre-2016 Republicans exiled from the MAGA-dominated GOP grassroots base of today. Kinzinger has spent years rehashing his “I fought against it” talking points to friendly college audiences. On February 24, he’ll be at it again, speaking at Tufts University, located just outside of Boston in blue-bastion Massachusetts. “As the US turns 250, historians, politicians, and journalists will be among those looking at what’s next for American democracy,” a posting on the Tufts website promoting its Tisch College of Civic Life 2026 Spring Events reads.
In November, Kinzinger gave the keynote speech at Stanford University’s fifth-annual Democracy Day event. He performed the usual routine: “sensible” Republican calls on leftist students to join him in working to preserve “democracy” from the tyrannical Donald Trump’s onslaught.
“I care about whether you defend democracy right now. If you do, you’re on my team,” Kinzinger told his young audience.
It sounds exceedingly stale, but scoff all you like. This is excellent light work if one can get it. Fellow anti-Trump Republican establishment “star” Liz Cheney was paid $151,000 to give just one speech at the University of Alaska Anchorage in May 2025.
“Her talk, titled ‘Defending Democracy: A Conversation with Liz Cheney,’ will be held on May 1 at the Atwood Theater,” The Alaska Landmine reported at the time. “Tickets are on sale and range from $687 at the highest to $175 at the lowest.”
The news site got a hold of Cheney’s contract rider for the event. “In addition to her $151,000 speaking fee, she also gets two first-class round-trip tickets from [Washington,] DC to Anchorage, ground transportation for DC and Anchorage, and hotel and meals for two,” The Landmine related.
Kinzinger, Kamala, and Pete
In other words, there’s a nice living to be made telling financially comfortable progressives what they want to hear. Cheney, Kinzinger, and leading Democrats such as Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg are all eager to gather in the green.
With that in mind, let us introduce you to Eminent Series Group. ESG strives to “bring the very best of today’s leaders, thinkers, and innovators in subscription-based lecture series hosted at world-class venues,” the entity declares on its website.
For some strange reason, all these cutting-edge minds just so happen to come from the same tight-knit ruling progressive establishment orbit. Cheney, progressive Georgia Democrat Stacey Abrams, coronavirus pandemic social regime overlord Dr. Anthony Fauci, and leftist “Science Guy” Bill Nye were among the speakers at the inaugural Colorado Speaker Series in 2023.
Colorado Republicans were not amused.
“There’s nothing ‘Colorado’ about this $$$ leftie lollapalooza,” The Larimer County Republican Party wrote in a July 30, 2023, X post. “It’s produced by for-profit Utah-based Eminent Series Group, which runs similar bills in Utah, California and Arizona. Their whole schtick is putting a ‘local’ spin on each series.”
Eminent is indeed a multi-state operation. In addition to Colorado, it also presents an annual Arizona Speaker Series, a San Jose Speaker Series, and a Wasatch Speaker Series in Salt Lake City.
These theater shows don’t come cheap.
Kinzinger, Harris, Buttigieg and former NBC Today morning show host Jane Pauley were part of the seven-evening Arizona Speaker Series. Ticket buyers were required to purchase a subscription to all seven speeches.
Here’s a list of the various pricing tiers:
Premium A VIP: $599
Main Floor Front: $499
Main Floor: $399
Club Level Lower: $249
Club Level Upper: $229
Balcony Level Lower: $169
Balcony Level Upper: $149
“Maintenance” and “processing” fees not included. The event sold out completely.
Pricing was similar for the Colorado Speaker Series, which also featured Kinzinger, Buttigieg, and Harris. It too was reported to be a sellout. The trio were in for all they could get, appearing as well at the sold-out Wasatch Speaker Series, giving them three bites each at a very lush apple.
For Democrats, Eminent has proven to be quite the lucrative business partner. “In a separate federal candidate disclosure filing, [Joe Biden] reported receiving honoraria... for speeches he gave in both 2018 and 2019. They included $181,000 from Eminent Series Group LLC for a November 2018 speech in Phoenix,” The Los Angeles Times reported during the 2020 presidential campaign.
And the venture is only expanding.
“Eminent Speakers [i.e., ESG], one of the nation’s premier producers of live speaker events, is proud to present An Evening with Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton, live & in-person at Target Center in downtown Minneapolis on Friday, January 23, 2026,” the venue announced on its website in classic cheeseball entertainment-shill language.
“Tickets will be available... starting at $75 all-in.”
Clinton ultimately canceled her speech due to the violent anti-US Immigration and Customs Enforcement protests ravaging Minneapolis in January. But fear not, progressive political consumerists. More events are surely on the way.
Why wouldn’t they be? What Eminent Series Group and its well-remunerated “players” realize all too well is that, ultimately, this type of audience is not applauding Adam Kinzinger. They are applauding themselves. And that is how you do the political grift. It’s the secret sauce that never fails.
