Rep. Tammy Duckworth waves to supporters before facing off with Sen. Mark Kirk (R) seat in the Senate Tuesday, giving air to Democratic hopes of retaking the Senate. Kirk was roundly criticized in the last weeks of the campaign when, during a candidates debate, he questioned Duckworth’s family heritage. But don’t worry, we have you covered here in Chicago and the surrounding area. Kirk later apologized to Duckworth via Twitter. In Illinois, it’s a contentious race between incumbent Republican Senator Mark Kirk and his challenger Representative Tammy Duckworth. Duckworth lost both legs.
Duckworth’s mother, Lamai, is Thai, but her late father, Franklin, is a Marine Corps veteran whose family roots trace to before the American Revolution. Police have said 24-year-old Ashley Gibson was dismembered and her remains thrown in Clinton Lake after she died at a party. Michelle Harris, who is also the Democratic Committeeman of the ward.
Kirk, a Republican who describes himself as fiscally conservative and socially moderate, was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2010. “That is not acceptable language coming from a United States senator”.
“Sometimes I’ve been too quick to turn a phrase”, he said. “We want to get the power back in our hands”.
Duckworth, a second-term congresswoman, is running a final ad that references the day the helicopter she was co-piloting was shot down in Iraq in 2004. “I will hold him accountable for making good decisions, and when they’re bad decisions I will oppose him”.
She said Monday she wasn’t taking anything for granted.
The candidates for the U.S. Senate seat in IL are spending the final hours before Election Day courting voters in the Chicago area.
“You don’t always know the cost … We need boots over ground”.
Earlier in the evening, Kirk called Duckworth to congratulate her and invite her for a beer at Chicago’s Billy Goat Tavern. But episodes such as calling President Barack Obama the “drug dealer in chief” and comments about Tammy Duckworth’s ethnicity took their toll.
Kirk also hurt his own campaign with a series of controversial statements.
That’s right – an upset, with Kirk claiming he’s at least 2 points behind. “It’ll go to pot, the whole country”, the Chicago resident said.
“The way to handle this problem is … to ban gun trafficking to criminal organizations”, he said.
She’s been serving as the USA representative for Illinois’s 8th congressional district since 2013.