GOP Senator Makes Distasteful Remark About His War-Hero Opponent’s Ancestry

Illinois Republican Sen. Mark Kirk made an ill-advised jab about the birthplace and ancestry of his Democratic opponent, Rep. Tammy Duckworth, during a debate on Thursday. Duckworth, who is challenging Kirk for his seat, had just finished talking about her military service and that of her ancestors, dating back to the Revolutionary War.

“I forgot that your parents came all the way from Thailand to serve George Washington,” Kirk said in the debate at the University of Illinois Springfield. It was an odd comment from a senator who has a reputation for making odd comments, but particularly impolitic given his opponent’s backstory. Duckworth was born in Thailand to an U.S. Marine father and a Thai mother of Chinese descent.