Sen. Tammy Duckworth takes to Twitter to announce reelection bid

First-term Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth used a brief message on Twitter on Tuesday to officially announce her bid for reelection in 2022.

“Folks, I am officially launching my reelection campaign for United States Senate in Illinois,” she tweeted. “We’ve made so much progress, but my work for Illinois families and veterans isn’t finished. But it won’t be easy.”

Duckworth’s tweet continued with a fundraising link.

There was little doubt that Duckworth, 52, the state’s junior senator, would seek a second term. Shortly after securing his own reelection in November, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, the state’s senior senator and No. 2 Democrat in the chamber, began issuing fundraising emails and social media notices on her behalf.

So far, no major Republican candidate has surfaced to take on Duckworth next year.

Duckworth, of Hoffman Estates, won the seat in 2016 by defeating one-term Republican U.S. Sen Mark Kirk of Highland Park, 55% to 40%, after earlier capturing 64% of the Democratic primary vote.

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Prior to the Senate, Duckworth served two terms in the U.S. House. She lost her initial bid for Congress in 2006 and went on to become director of the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs, then an assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in President Barack Obama’s administration.

Duckworth is a combat veteran of the Iraq War and was severely injured when her helicopter was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade, resulting in the loss of both legs.

She was the first woman with a disability elected to Congress and in 2018 became the first senator to give birth while in office.

Duckworth is planning a more formal announcement on March 30 in a virtual fundraiser headlined by all of the state, city and county’s major Democratic officeholders.

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