Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq war veteran born in Thailand, on Tuesday soundly defeated a controversial conservative lawmaker in a closely watched election in the suburbs of Chicago.
Duckworth, who lost most of her two legs in Iraq, defeated first-term Republican congressman Joe Walsh who raised hackles by saying during his campaign that abortion was never necessary to save the life of a pregnant woman.
Duckworth was leading Walsh by about 10 percentage points in the eighth congressional district in Illinois, in a pick-up for the Democrats even though Republicans were expected to maintain control of the House of Representatives.
Walsh is a prominent figure in the right-wing populist Tea Party movement. He is a hawkish supporter of Israel and campaigned for the United States to issue a visa to Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat who is shunned in Washington due to anti-Muslim riots in the Indian state in 2002.
Duckworth was born in Bangkok to a US military father and a Thai mother. After President Barack Obama took office, she took a senior position in the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Iraq veteran defeats Illinois conservative
