Sen. Mark Kirk on Friday apologized for questioning the military service of Democratic Rep. Tammy Duckworth’s ancestors.
During a debate for the Illinois Senate seat Thursday, Kirk, a Republican who is trailing in the polls, made a comment that critics have called racist after Duckworth talked about her family’s long U.S. military service. The Democratic congresswoman said she wanted to be serving in the Senate when discussions about war were taking place because Duckworth, who lost both legs in the Iraq War, knows the costs of war.
She added that her family had served in the military since the American Revolution, to which Kirk responded, “I forgot that your parents came all the way from Thailand to serve George Washington.”
While Duckworth’s mother is Thai, her father served in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, and her family’s roots in America go back to before the founding of the country.
On Friday, Kirk tweeted his apology.
Sincere apologies to an American hero, Tammy Duckworth, and gratitude for her family’s service. #ilsen
— Mark Kirk (@MarkKirk) October 28, 2016
“Sincere apologies to an American hero, Tammy Duckworth, and gratitude for her family’s service,” the senator’s account tweeted.
Kirk’s comments quickly went viral Thursday night and were widely viewed as the final nail in his campaign’s coffin. The Republican incumbent trails Duckworth by 7 points, according to the RealClearPolitics average of polls.
