Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) has announced she is running for the US Senate in Ilinois. She will challenge 1st term Senator Mark Kirk.
Duckworth could potentially be one of at least three Asian Americans in the Senate.
She would join Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HI) and possibly Kamala Harris who is currently the front runner in California.
Duckworth was born in Thailand and her mother is Thai with Chinese ancestry. Harris’ mother in Indian and her father is Jamaican American.
Duckworth and Harris could potentially also be only the third and fourth Asian Americans outside of Hawaii to ever be US Senators, according to Wikipedia.
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The others were Japanese American SI Hiyakawa (R-CA) from 1977 to 1983 and John Ensign (R- NV) from 2001 -2011. Ensign is part Filipino.
Duckworth made her announcement on You Tube.
In her announcement, Duckworth recalled when her father was unemployed and she said “food stamps kept her brother and me from going hungry. That’s why I always believed if you don’t give up on yourself, our nation should never give up on you either.”
You can hear her entire story in the two minute clip below.
