Republican senator mocks Thai heritage of rival Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq war veteran

A Republican senator struggling in his re-election race made a racially charged remark about his Democratic opponent in a debate Thursday night.

Illinois senator Mark Kirk tried to mock the Asian heritage of congresswoman Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq war veteran, by suggesting that it somehow diminished her family’s long military service to the US.

“I had forgotten your parents came all the way from Thailand to serve George Washington,” Kirk said of Duckworth.

The third-term congresswoman, who was born in Thailand, is the daughter of a Thai woman of Chinese descent and an American father who traced his roots to the Revolutionary War. Members of the Duckworth family have served in the American armed forces since the revolution.

Duckworth herself served as a US Army helicopter pilot in the Iraq war, losing both her legs and severely injuring her right arm when the helicopter she was piloting was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade in 2004.

Kirk’s comments came in response to a statement from Duckworth during the debate.