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Tammy Duckworth is a Senator and a former Representative from Illinois. Born in Bangkok, Thailand in 1968, she earned her B.A. from the University of Hawaii, Manoa in 1989, her M.A. from The George Washington University in 1992 and also attended Northern Illinois University.
She was a helicopter pilot for the U.S. Army Reserve from 1992-1996, the Illinois Army National Guard from 1996-2014, attaining the rank of lieutenant colonel. She also served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and was awarded the Purple Heart.
She was an unsuccessful candidate for election to the United States House of Representatives in 2006, was the director of the Illinois department of veterans’ affairs from 2006-2009, the assistant secretary of the United States Department of Veterans’ Affairs from 2009-2011 and a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in 2012.
She was elected as a Democrat to the 113th Congress and to the succeeding Congress (January 3, 2013-January 3, 2017) and was not a candidate for reelection to the House of Representatives but was elected as a Democrat to the United States Senate in 2016 for the term ending January 3, 2023.
