How Old Was Tammy Duckworth When She Had Her Last Baby
Every bit Tammy Duckworth, the newly minted inferior senator from Illinois, returned to her wheelchair after standing to hold her hand on a copy of the Constitution at her swearing-in ceremony in the U.S. Capitol, she told and so-Vice President Joe Biden, "it means a lot that you're the one who did this."
For Duckworth, his presence at the January 2017 anniversary was meaning because she said that she felt he embodied "survival and resilience" and represented a culmination of service throughout his long career and personal story in the face up of adversity.
"Over the years, (Biden) has simply shown that he can overcome a lot, and I've overcome a lot. And he gets it. He gets it. He may not have gone through the same traumas that I've gone through, just he'southward gone through trauma, and he'southward seen the other side," Duckworth said in an interview with ABC News.
She now finds herself in contention to serve aslope Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president. ABC News has learned that the senator is in the process of being vetted for the running mate slot and has interviewed with Biden'due south vice presidential search committee.
During the remaining weeks of the process, she maintains that she'southward prepared to serve in any capacity.
"I've made information technology clear to them that any role he wants -- he needs me to do -- I will perform that task," Duckworth said, tipping her manus that she is in talks with the Biden squad. "And if that office is to go sweep floors on a U.South. base somewhere ... I'll go do that. We take a lot of challenges in this country and I truly believe that Joe Biden is the right person to help us run into those challenges and overcome them."
Perhaps no other woman in consideration has every bit compelling a personal story as Duckworth. Later on spending a portion of her teenage years on nutrient stamps and most homeless, she went on to join the Illinois National Guard, and deploy to Republic of iraq in 2004, where the Blackhawk helicopter she was piloting was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade.
The assault left her near death, but Duckworth was saved by her fellow service members -- some who were too injured. She would wake in Walter Reed Army Medical Heart, in what she described every bit "nonstop, unrelenting, seemingly endless agony." She lost both her legs in the attack and partial use of her right arm -- first what she has referred to as her "second life."
A old staffer sung the senator's praises, describing her as "no B.S." and thoughtful when information technology comes to her work. The former staffer spoke glowingly about her friendly nature amid downtime, including a love of pranks in the part, and showing off photos of her two young daughters -- a reminder that Duckworth is likewise a working mom.
Merely it's her military background, according to those close to Duckworth, that would inform her service as Biden's second-in-command.
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"If you're looking for someone who's going to exist a team player and a loyal ally -- that is what Tammy tin can practice. She'southward an accented team player. She's a workhorse, not a show horse and when we got to the Senate, she immediately was like 'OK, I desire to be known for my hard work, my legislative and policy accomplishments. Everything else is secondary,'" the same former staffer said.
The lonely VP contender with military feel
A recent spotlight on the military has allowed Duckworth to showcase her strengths as an attack domestic dog against President Donald Trump, often appearing as a invitee on cable news, and recently giving a pointed and personal speech communication on the Senate floor following reports that the president was briefed on the intelligence behind reports Russian federation offered bounties to Taliban militants to kill U.S. troops, simply took no activeness.
"'I didn't know that our adversary was helping kill American troops because no ane told me' is not an alibi for the commander in chief of the greatest armed forces on earth. It is in fact a confession of incompetence," Duckworth said of Trump's claims he had not been informed.
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Duckworth's military service likewise gives her a Teflon exterior, allies said, dodging whatsoever attacks or nicknames from the president despite giving him ane -- "Buck Bone Spurs," combining the highest military rank he always received with the disquiet that kept him from serving in Vietnam.
"Tammy is the nigh constructive counterpoint to Donald Trump. She would add serious national security credentials to the ticket, speak personally for our war machine, and confront Donald Trump when he plays the bully. At that place'south a reason Donald Trump has not invented a cheap nickname for Tammy. She'south out of his league," Illinois' senior Sen. Dick Durbin, who played a pivotal role in getting Duckworth into politics, told ABC News in a argument.
For Duckworth, understanding what makes Trump tick is a "waste matter of fourth dimension."
"I couldn't care less why Donald Trump has not responded to me. He's not worth me wasting time wondering, what motivations go on his mind considering I can't even comprehend how someone tin have 125,000 dead Americans and exist out on the golf grade," Duckworth said. "It is so alien to me, to everything that I've washed in my life."
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Still, when asked if she thought that the attention on the armed forces in the midst of the biggest stories across the country would place a stronger emphasis on a Democratic ticket with military experience, Duckworth diplomatically demurred.
"I think at that place's a benefit to having someone with military machine experience," she said. "I don't recollect that it'due south a requirement, but I think it volition frame an understanding for how to truly utilise our military to secure our nation's defense force and our nation'south national security without exploiting the military for political proceeds."
The challenges she's upward against
Duckworth'southward prospects of landing on the ticket alongside Biden are up against her own record and history, and that of the slate of women also under consideration.
Sources shut to Duckworth say the senator doesn't necessarily accept aspirations for the White House, but for the woman who initially had her eyes set on the strange service, a congressional career was not necessarily top of heed, either. For her, they say, information technology'south most answering the call to service. She served two terms in the House, before becoming the inferior senator from Illinois -- defeating incumbents twice to earn her seat.
"She'due south apparently been very constructive," Joel Goldstein, a vice presidential scholar at St. Louis University said. "Can she at present exercise that at the national stage as well? And that's the question I think they'll be asking about her, and all the other people that they're looking at."
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Withal, it remains to be seen if she satisfies a top qualification for Biden -- being able to step into the presidency on mean solar day one. That capability is one that is paramount given Biden'south age -- he is 77 and would be the oldest president ever elected if he'due south successful -- and his vice president is largely being seen as a option for his successor.
As the search for Biden'south running mate approaches the early August target appointment for making a selection, Duckworth has been steadily raising her contour, particularly finding her step as Trump'south actions and the widespread national unrest across the country thrust the role of the military into the national spotlight.
But she also faces some hurdles.
On Tuesday, her hometown newspaper, the Chicago Tribune, criticized her legislative tape as "light" -- a swipe at her "few legislative accomplishments" during her tenure in the House, despite making "some headway" in the Senate.
Duckworth, herself, entirely dismissed the charge, defending her efforts in both chambers, including passing a police force that requires all major airports to provide nursing moms with private lactation rooms.
"I'm proud of the work that I take washed," she said. "I did information technology always in the minority ... I'thousand happy to put my legislative tape of legislation and amendments that I passed up confronting anybody's ... every mean solar day I wake up and I think, 'what else can I do to help serve my country?'"
Duckworth's lower name ID raises questions about her ability to energize the Autonomous base, and her power to help deliver victories across the battleground states that could ultimately define the event of the election. Just it could as well have some benefits, political experts said.
"From the Biden standpoint -- y'all've got to invest more than in defining her than you would with Elizabeth Warren, ... Kamala Harris ... they're pretty well defined," Dr. Kent Redfield, an emeritus professor of political science at the University of Illinois at Springfield, said in an interview. "At present that also ways she doesn't come in with some of the baggage that Harris or Warren might take."
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The vice presidential search is occurring largely in hugger-mugger and against the properties of deep national unrest over systemic racism and police brutality -- with some Democrats putting more than pressure on Biden to option an African American woman to betoken his delivery to addressing the reckoning on race.
"When you call back about any candidate, all of them have strengths and weaknesses," Goldstein said. "And and so one of the challenges if to selection Sen. Duckworth is that although she'south a person of colour, she's not African American and, people who have argued that he ought to selection i of the contenders who's African American, would they be disappointed?"
A woman of many firsts in the Senate: Duckworth was born in Thailand, making her the first Thai American; she is the first female amputee; the first senator to give birth while in office; and to bring her newborn to the Senate floor.
If selected, Duckworth would be the first person of Asian American descent on a presidential ticket -- and if successful, would exist the kickoff female vice president, and the offset wheelchair user since Franklin Delano Roosevelt to serve in one of the nation's pinnacle two offices.
Duckworth likewise brings with her experience from the Section of Veteran'southward Affairs at both the state and federal level afterward she was tapped by disgraced erstwhile Gov. Rod Blagojevich and President Barack Obama, respectively, for leadership roles in both departments.
But some of her most prominent drawbacks, experts said, could be her ties to Illinois, known for its "old-way" politics oft defined by its history of corruption.
"You'd be committing political malpractice if you didn't effort to define her every bit a corrupt Illinois politician, a protégé of Blagojevich and Obama, if yous were the opposition," Redfield said, referencing Blagojevich's 2011 conviction of attempting to sell the U.Southward. Senate seat vacated when Obama entered the White House in 2008. Trump commuted Blagojevich'southward sentence earlier this twelvemonth.
Countering the possible hindrances in her record or her associations is an advantage only she holds.
"She'due south not an easy target," he said. "She is very relatable. ... Her war machine (service) and her story, for people that are non-ideological but more conservative, that's gonna be a plus."
Duckworth has proved she'southward able to handle attacks when they come.
In a 2016 fence during the Senate race in Illinois, Duckworth talked near her family unit's armed services service dating back to the Revolutionary War, which prompted one-time GOP Sen. Marking Kirk to quip, "I forgot your parents came all the manner from Thailand to serve George Washington."
When Trump stood outside St. John's Episcopal Church for a photo op aslope summit military machine officials, Duckworth penned a scathing op-ed entitled, "It broke my heart to lookout 2 generals walk like lapdogs behind a five-time draft dodger," drawing a call from Gen. Mark Milley, the chairman of the Articulation Chiefs of Staff who appeared in the photo with the president, to apologize to her.
She besides joined in introducing a bill along with Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren -- another potential vice presidential pick -- and several Senate colleagues to remove the names of Amalgamated figures from military installations.
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Some of Duckworth's closest allies view her armed forces groundwork as a benefaction for her prospects and what she could bring to the ticket.
"As a veteran, she can also win over voters who might otherwise not consider supporting a Democrat. That'due south what happened in southern Illinois when she ran for Senate in 2016 against an incumbent Republican. In that ballot, she did well with Trump voters in the reddest downstate Illinois counties," Durbin wrote.
A personal connection to the Biden clan
Beyond Duckworth'south compelling background, path into the political sphere and accomplishments as the nation confronts multiple crises, she as well has a personal connectedness to the Biden family.
She introduced Young man Biden, a young man soldier, at the 2008 Democratic National Convention -- the first of three quadrennial gatherings in which she was part of the speaker lineup.
Earlier this year, when Duckworth endorsed Biden in March, she did and then a few days before Durbin. Since then, she's helped raise $ane.half-dozen million for his campaign from a fundraiser she co-hosted, co-authored an op-ed with Biden commemorating Asian American Heritage Month and is set to host a Women for Biden national phone call on Thursday for the campaign.
Duckworth is also close with Dr. Jill Biden. They worked together throughout the Obama administration, during Duckworth'due south tenure in the Section of Veterans Affairs and when the former second lady was focusing largely on veterans issues.
"You take served our nation in and so many ways ... you inspire and so many people beyond this land, and nosotros are honored to have your back up," Biden said earlier this calendar week of Duckworth at a virtual fundraiser celebrating the 30th ceremony of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
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Without weighing in on the speculation near who should become Biden'south running mate, Jill Biden told "Adept Morning America" on Tuesday that her husband "wants a relationship similar he had with Barack."
"No one knows ameliorate than Joe does about the role of the vice president, and they respected one another and at the stop of the solar day, you know Joe was the last one in the room to give his stance and I call back that's what matters -- that they share the aforementioned values and they have the aforementioned vision about governing our country," she said, adding that she "hopes that he will listen to (her) and get (her) communication."
A value Biden is known for is his empathy -- a value those shut to the senator say is one that she shares too. John Soltz, the founder and chairman of VoteVets.org, who has known Duckworth for years, recalled the senator showing up at his female parent's funeral unannounced to pay her respects.
"I can't remember of anybody who I've dealt with in American politics for such a long fourth dimension that I trust more than, or has more loyalty than Tammy Duckworth," Soltz said.
ABC News' Christopher Donato contributed to this report
Service has shaped Sen. Tammy Duckworth. Is her adjacent post in the White House? originally appeared on abcnews.become.com
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