This article will answer every question you have about Tammy Duckworth. Below are some of the frequently asked questions about her.
- What does Tammy Duckworth do for a living?
- Who are Tammy Duckworth’s parents and siblings?
- What are Tammy Duckworth’s interests and hobbies?
- Is Tammy Duckworth married or does she have a girlfriend/boyfriend?
- Does Tammy Duckworth have any children?
- Where is Tammy Duckworth now?
- How tall is Tammy Duckworth?
- How much money does Tammy Duckworth earn?
- What is Tammy Duckworth’s net worth?
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Who is Tammy Duckworth?
Ladda Tammy Duckworth is best known as an American politician and retired Army National Guard lieutenant colonel serving as the junior United States senator from Illinois since 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she represented Illinois’s 8th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2013 to 2017.
Duckworth ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the United States House of Representatives in 2006. Then she served as director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs from 2006 to 2009 and as assistant secretary for public and intergovernmental affairs at the United States Department of Veterans Affairs from 2009 to 2011. Duckworth was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives, where she served two terms. She was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2016, defeating Republican incumbent Mark Kirk in 2012.
Duckworth is the 1st Thai American woman elected to Congress, the first person born in Thailand elected to Congress. The 1st woman with a disability elected to Congress, and the first female double amputee in the Senate. And the 1st senator to give birth while in office. Duckworth is the second of three Asian American women to serve in the U.S. Senate. Following Mazie Hirono, and Kamala Harris.
Military service
Following in the footsteps of her father, who served in World War II and the Vietnam War. And ancestors who served in every major conflict since the Revolutionary War. She attended the Army Reserve Officers’ Training Corps in 1990 as a graduate student at George Washington University. She became a commissioned officer in the United States Army Reserve in 1992 and chose to fly helicopters because it was one of the few combat jobs open to women at that time.
As a member of the Army Reserve, she went to flight school, later transferring to the Army National Guard and in 1996 entering the Illinois Army National Guard. Duckworth also worked as a staff supervisor at Rotary International headquarters in Evanston, Illinois. And was the coordinator of the Center for Nursing Research at Northern Illinois University.
2004
Duckworth was working toward a Ph.D. in political science at Northern Illinois University. With research interests in the political economy and public health of southeast Asia, when she was deployed to Iraq in 2004.
On November 12, 2004, she lost her right leg near the hip and her left leg below the knee from injuries sustained when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. She was co-piloting and was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade fired by Iraqi insurgents.
How old is Tammy Duckworth?
Duckworth is 54 years old as of 2022, having been born on March 12, 1968, in Bangkok, Thailand. She has shared her birthday with popular people including Will Cuddy, Aaron Eckhart, Aaron Farb, Akemi Okamura, Al Jarreau, Alfred Abel, Amar Adatia, Arap Bethke, and others.
Tammy Duckworth Family
Who are Tammy Duckworth’s Parents?
Duckworth was born and raised in Bangkok to her parents Franklin Duckworth and Lamai Sompornpairin.
Does Tammy Duckworth have Siblings?
Duckworth is not the only child in their family. She has one brother named Tommy Duckworth.
Tammy Duckworth Education
Duckworth joined Singapore American School, the International School Bangkok, and the Jakarta International School. She then went to George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs.
Tammy Duckworth Spouse
Duckworth has been married to Bryan Bowlsbey since 1993. They met during Duckworth’s participation in the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps and later served together in the Illinois Army National Guard.
Tammy Duckworth Kids
The couple has two daughters in their marriage who are Abigail O’kalani Bowlsbey who was born in November 2014 and Maile Pearl Bowlsbey.
Tammy Duckworth Height
Adding up to her well-curved body with an average body physique incurved body, she stands at a height of 5 ft 7 in (1.73 m) and a weight of 116 lbs (53 kg).
December 3
She was the first American female double amputee from the Iraq War. The explosion severely broke her right arm and tore tissue from it, necessitating major surgery to repair it. Duckworth received a Purple Heart on December 3 and was promoted to the rank of major on December 21 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center where she was presented with an Air Medal and Army Commendation Medal.
She retired from the Illinois Army National Guard in October 2014 as a lieutenant colonel.
Duckworth with Senators Barack Obama and Daniel Akaka in 2005 at a Veterans Affairs hearing.
In 2011 the Daughters of the American Revolution erected a statue with Duckworth’s likeness and that of Molly Pitcher in Mount Vernon, Illinois. The statue was dedicated to female veterans.
Government service
Duckworth was sworn in as Assistant Secretary of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, by Judge John J. Farley with her husband Bryan Bowlsbey beside her On November 21, 2006.
Several weeks following losing her 1st congressional campaign, Duckworth was appointed director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs by Governor Rod Blagojevich. She served in that position until February 8, 2009. While director, she was credited with starting a program to help veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and veterans with brain injuries.
Duckworth attended a campaign event for Dan Seals, the Democratic candidate for Illinois’s 10th congressional district on September 17, 2008. She used vacation time but violated Illinois law by going to the event in a state-owned van that was equipped for a person with physical disabilities. She acknowledged the mistake and repaid the state for the use of the van.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections 2006
Following longtime incumbent Republican Henry Hyde revealed his retirement from Congress, several candidates began campaigning for the open seat. Duckworth victory the Democratic primary with a plurality of 44%, defeating 2004 nominee Christine Cegelis with 40%, and Wheaton College professor Lindy Scott with 16%. State Senator Peter Roskam was unopposed in the Republican primary.
For the general election, Duckworth was endorsed by EMILY’s List, a political action committee that supports female Democratic candidates who return abortion rights. Duckworth was also endorsed by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the Fraternal Order of Police. While she raised $4.5 million to Roskam’s $3.44 million, Duckworth lost by 4,810 votes, earning 49% to Roskam’s 51%.
2012
Duckworth launched her campaign to run 2012 for Illinois’s 8th congressional district in July 2011. She defeated former Deputy Treasurer of Illinois Raja Krishnamoorthi for the Democratic nomination on March 20, 2012 Then she faced incumbent Republican Joe Walsh in the general election. Duckworth earned the endorsement of both the Chicago Tribune and the Daily Herald.
Walsh generated controversy when in July 2012, at a campaign event, he accused Duckworth of politicizing her military service and injuries, saying “my God, that’s all she talks about. Our true heroes, the men and women who served us, it’s the last thing in the world they talk about.” Walsh called the controversy over his comments “a political ploy to distort my words and distract voters” and said that “Of course, Tammy Duckworth is a hero … I have called her a hero hundreds of scents.
Duckworth defeated Walsh 55%–45% making her the first Asian-American from Illinois in Congress and the first woman with a disability elected to Congress on November 6, 2012. And the 1st member of Congress born in Thailand.
2014
Duckworth faced Republican Larry Kaifesh, a United States Marine Corps officer who had recently left active duty as a colonel in the 2014 general election. She defeated Kaifesh with 56% of the vote.
Tenure
On January 3, 2013, Duckworth was sworn into office.
Duckworth publicly returned 8.4% ($1,218) of her congressional salary for that month to the United States Department of Treasury in solidarity with furloughed government workers on April 3, 2013.
During a hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on June 26, 2013. Duckworth earned national media attention after questioning Strong Castle CEO Braulio Castillo on a $500 million government contract the company had been awarded based on Castillo’s disabled veteran status. In 1984, Castillo had injured his ankle at the US Military Academy’s prep school, USMAPS.
U.S Senate
Elections 2016
Duckworth revealed that she would challenge incumbent Republican U.S. Senator Mark Kirk for his seat in the 2016 Senate election in Illinois on March 30, 2015. On March 15, 2016, she defeated fellow Democrats Andrea Zopp and Napoleon Harris in the primary election.
During a televised debate she talked about her ancestors’ past service in the United States military on October 27, 2016. Kirk responded, “I’d forgotten that your parents came all the way from Thailand to serve George Washington.” The comment led to the Human Rights Campaign withdrawing their endorsement of Kirk and switching it to stating his comments were “deeply offensive and racist.
Duckworth was endorsed by Barack Obama, who actively campaigned for her.
Duckworth defeated Kirk 55 percent to 40 percent to win the Senate seat on November 8. She and Kamala Harris, who was also elected in 2016, are the 2nd and 3rd female Asian American senators, following Mazie Hirono who was elected in 2012.
2022
Duckworth revealed her candidacy for reelection in the 2022 election in March 2021. Duckworth won her reelection to the U.S. Senate against Kathy Salvi on November 8, 2022. Her victory makes her the 1st woman reelected to a senate seat in Illinois.
National politics
Duckworth has spoken at 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020 Democratic National Conventions. She was the permanent co-chair of the 2020 Democratic National Convention. At the 2020 convention, she called Trump a “coward-in-chief” for not supporting the American military.
She was vetted as a possible running mate during Joe Biden’s vice presidential candidate selection. Fellow U.S. Senator Kamala Harris was instead selected. Biden nominated Duckworth to serve as Vice Chair of the Democratic National Committee, along with Gretchen Whitmer, Keisha Lance Bottoms, and Filemon Vela Jr.
Political positions
Environment
Duckworth was one of 12 senators to sign a bipartisan letter to top senators on the Appropriations Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development advocating in April 2019. The Energy Department be granted maximum funding for carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS), arguing that American job growth could be stimulated by investment in viable options to capture carbon emissions and expressing disagreement with Trump’s 2020 budget request to combine the 2 federal programs that such carbon capture research.
Foreign policy
On June 2, 2005. Duckworth narrates the Salute to Fallen Asian Pacific Islander Heroes in Arlington, Virginia.
Within her unsuccessful congressional campaign in 2006, Duckworth called on Congress to audit the estimated $437 billion spent on overseas military and foreign aid since September 11, 2001.
Duckworth gave the Democratic Party’s response to President George W. Bush’s weekly radio address. In it, she was critical of Bush’s strategy for the Iraq War on September 30, 2006.
2006
The Sunday Times reported that Duckworth agreed with General Sir Richard Dannatt in October 2006. The British Army chief, that the presence of coalition troops was exacerbating the conflict in Iraq.
Duckworth supports finished U.S. military aid to Israel and opposes the movement for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel. She voiced her opposition to Israel’s plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank.
She was a co-sponsor of the South China Sea and East China Sea Sanctions Act in May 2019. A bipartisan bill reintroduced by Marco Rubio and Ben Cardin was intended to disrupt China’s consolidation or expansion of its claims of jurisdiction over both the sea and air space in disputed zones in the South China Sea.
Duckworth and Senators Dan Sullivan and Christopher Coons visited Taipei in a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III transport to meet President Tsai Ing-wen and Minister Joseph Wu during the pandemic outbreak Taiwan to announce President Joe Biden’s donation plan of 750,000 COVID-19 vaccines included in the global COVAX program on June 6, 2021.
Gun law
Duckworth was rated by the National Rifle Association as having a pro-gun control congressional voting record. Duckworth, who is a gun owner herself, cites violence in Chicago as a major influence for her support of gun control. She supports universal background checks and the halting of state-to-state gun trafficking.
Duckworth participated in the 2016 Chris Murphy gun control filibuster. During the sit-in, Duckworth hid her mobile phone in her prosthetic leg to avoid it being taken away from her since taking pictures and recording on the House floor is against policy.
In a 2016 interview with GQ magazine, she stated that gaining control of the Senate and “closing the gap” in the House would be necessary in order to pass common sense gun laws. She also stated that she believed in moderate Republicans. Those who support common sense gun control would have more power to influence gun control if they were not “pushed aside by those folks who are absolutely beholden to the NRA. And so we never get the vote.
Health policy
Duckworth supports abortion rights. Following Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, Duckworth said she was “outraged and horrified.” She called the decision a “nightmare”, robbing women of their right to make health care decisions.
Duckworth supported the Affordable Care Act.
Immigration
Duckworth supports comprehensive immigration reform with a pathway to citizenship for those in the country illegally. She would admit 100,000 Syrian refugees into the United States.
Duckworth was one of seventeen senators to sign a letter spearheaded by Kamala Harris to United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kirstjen Nielsen demanding that the Trump administration take immediate action in attempting to reunite 539 migrant children with their families in August 2018. Citing each passing day of inaction as intensifying “trauma that this administration has needlessly caused for children and their families seeking humanitarian protection.
Awards and accolades
Duckworth was awarded the Honorary degree of Doctor of Humane Letters (DHL) by Northern Illinois University in May 2010. Chicago’s Access Living honored Duckworth for her work on behalf of veterans with disabilities, bestowing her with the Gordon H. Mansfield Congressional Leadership Award in 2011.
Duckworth is heavily decorated for her service in Iraq. With over 10 distinct military honors, most notably the Purple Heart, an award her Marine father had also received.
Former Republican presidential candidate and Senator from Kansas Bob Dole dedicated his autobiography One Soldier’s Story in part to Duckworth. Duckworth credits Dole for inspiring her to pursue public service, while she recuperated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center; although, in 2006, Dole endorsed Duckworth’s Republican opponent, Peter Roskam.
Tammy Duckworth’s Net Worth
An American politician and retired Army National Guard lieutenant colonel serving as the junior United States senator from Illinois since 2017. Her net worth is approximately $1.5 million as of 2022.
