CHAPTER 1 A HEATED DEBATE In October 2016 Tammy Duckworth neared the end of her election campaign She was running to represent Illinois in the US Senate Duckworth had been a member of the US House of Representatives since 2013 Duckworth was running against incumbent Mark Kirk He was a Republican The Republican Party is one of two major US political parties This party tends to support conservative policies Tammy Duckworth speaks after becoming the Democratic nominee for US Senate in March 2016 5
Most Republicans believe in limited government especially in terms of economic policies Duckworth on the other hand was a Democrat In general this party supports liberal views Democrats also tend to want greater government involvement especially to support people in need On October 28 Duckworth and Kirk faced off in a debate The election was less than two weeks away In the debate Duckworth discussed her family’s long history of serving in the US military In response Kirk doubted her claims about her family He made a joke about her ethnicity Duckworth could have addressed the joke However she stayed focused on the debate She talked about issues she cared about such as foreign policy According to the polls Duckworth was already in the lead Kirk’s comments during the debate did 6
not help him make up any ground Many people had found them disrespectful On November 8 2016 the people of Illinois voted for Duckworth to represent them She became the second Asian American woman in history to serve as a US senator PEOPLE OF COLOR IN CONGRESS When Duckworth first joined the Senate in 2017 she was one of only 15 Asian Americans in Congress 1 7 25 1 8 26 1 7 26 2 11 31 1 10 29 2 11 32 2 15 39 41 41 39 42 42 46 50 2 6 22 37 4 17 43 56 2003 2005 2007 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 Black Latino Asian American American Indian 7
