 Illinois senator seems to suggest in debate that Democrat opponent’s Thai and Chinese heritage lessened her family’s centuries of US military service 
 
 A Republican senator struggling in his re-election race made a racially charged remark about his Democratic opponent in a debate on Thursday night. Duckworth countered Kirk's periodic interruptions by suggesting that his series of controversial statements about President Barack Obama and the nation are "not at all the hallmarks of a senator who is looking out for the people of Illinois." Tammy Duckworth shows her strength in Senate fight: 'These legs don’t buckle' Read more 
 
 “But let’s make sure that the American people understand what we are engaging in and let’s hold our allies accountable because we can’t do it all.” 
 
 Kirk simply said in response: “I had forgotten your parents came all the way from Thailand to serve George Washington,” and added nothing else as he sat silently. Asked about their long-term plan for American influence in the Middle East, Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D), who is Asian-American, said her family "has served this nation in uniform going back to the Revolution." Duckworth, who was born in Bangkok, Thailand, to a mother of Chinese heritage and a father of British descent, replied: "There's been members of my family serving on my father's side since the American Revolution." She said she was "proud of both my father's side and my mother's side as an immigrant." Kellyanne Conway, campaign manager for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, took to Twitter for some payback against Kirk, who un-endorsed Trump this year and has called the former reality show star unfit to be president. She tweeted about the comment: “The same Mark Kirk that unendorsed his party’s presidential nominee and called him out in paid ads? Gotcha. Good luck," Conway posted on Twitter over an online publication's tweeted headline "Senator Mark Kirk mocks disabled Iraq war vet Tammy Duckworth in debate for her mixed-race heritage." Former Miss Finland is 12th woman to accuse Trump of sexual assault Read more 
 
 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 served 23 years in the Naval Reserve as an intelligence officer and retired in 2013 after suffering a major stroke.
– Illinois Republican Mark Kirk's chances of keeping his US Senate seat took a hit Thursday night when he made an ugly—and inaccurate—remark about his opponent's heritage during a televised debate. After Democratic US Rep. Tammy Duckworth, who was born in Bangkok to a Thai mother and an American father, said her family "has served this nation in uniform going back to the Revolution" and described herself as "a daughter of the American Revolution," Kirk responded: "I forgot that your parents came all the way from Thailand to serve George Washington," reports the Hill, which describes Kirk as the most vulnerable GOP senator up for re-election. His remark was followed by several seconds of awkward silence before the moderator moved on to the next question. Duckworth's father is a World War II vet with ancestors who served in the Revolutionary War, and she is a US Army vet who lost both her legs when an RPG hit the helicopter she was piloting in Iraq in 2004, the Guardian notes. Kirk, who served as an intelligence officer in the Navy Reserve, has used a wheelchair since a stroke in 2012. One of the debate's lighter moments came when he quipped: "I think we both agree the next senator from Illinois should use a wheelchair," the Chicago Tribune reports. Kirk—who has described Donald Trump as a "malignant clown"—"unendorsed his party's presidential nominee and called him out in paid ads," Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said in a tweet gloating over the debate gaffe.