Tammy Duckworth

Tammy Duckworth
Born	Ladda Tammy Duckworth 12 3, 1968
Birthplace	Bangkok, Thailand
Nationality	American
Occupation	Template:Hlist
Title	United States Senator from Illinois
Known for	First female double amputee in the U.S. Senate; first senator to give birth while in office; first Thai American woman elected to Congress
Education	George Washington University (MA)
Children	2
Awards	Purple Heart, Air Medal
Website	[https://www.duckworth.senate.gov/ Official site]

Ladda Tammy Duckworth (born March 12, 1968) is an American politician and retired United States Army lieutenant colonel serving as the junior United States senator from Illinois, a seat she has held since January 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Duckworth previously represented Illinois's 8th congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2013 to 2017. Born in Bangkok, Thailand, Duckworth served as a Black Hawk helicopter pilot during the Iraq War, where she lost both legs and partial use of her right arm after her helicopter was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade in November 2004. She was the first female double amputee from the Iraq War. Despite her injuries, she continued her military service for another decade, retiring in 2014. Duckworth holds a number of historic distinctions: she is the first Thai American woman elected to Congress, the first person born in Thailand elected to Congress, the first woman with a disability elected to Congress, the first female double amputee in the Senate, and the first sitting U.S. senator to give birth while in office. Her career in public service has spanned military service, state government, federal appointments, and elected office, with a consistent focus on veterans' affairs, military readiness, and support for working families.

Early Life

Ladda Tammy Duckworth was born on March 12, 1968, in Bangkok, Thailand. Her father, Franklin Duckworth, was an American of English descent who had served in the United States Marine Corps and later worked in various international development and private-sector positions across Southeast Asia. Her mother, Lamai Duckworth, is of Thai Chinese descent. The name "Ladda" (ลัดดา) is her Thai given name.

Duckworth's family had a long tradition of military service in the United States. Her father's family traced its American roots back to the American Revolutionary War, and members of the family had served in every major American conflict since that time. The family moved frequently during Duckworth's childhood due to her father's work, and she spent portions of her youth living in various countries in Southeast Asia, including Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, and Singapore.

When Duckworth was a teenager, the family relocated to Honolulu, Hawaii, where she attended and graduated from the President William McKinley High School. The move to Hawaii represented a period of financial difficulty for the family. Duckworth has spoken publicly about her family relying on food stamps and other public assistance programs during this time, an experience that she has cited as formative in shaping her later policy positions on social safety net programs.

Growing up in a multicultural household — with an American father and a Thai mother — and living across multiple countries gave Duckworth a cross-cultural perspective that would later inform her work in international relations and foreign policy. Her upbringing in a military family also instilled in her a deep connection to service, which she would carry into both her military and political careers.

Education

Duckworth pursued her higher education in Hawaii and later in Washington, D.C. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She subsequently enrolled at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., where she earned a Master of Arts degree in international affairs.

Duckworth also began a Ph.D. program in political science at Northern Illinois University, focusing her dissertation research on the political economy of Southeast Asia. Her doctoral studies were interrupted by her deployment to Iraq in 2004 and the severe injuries she sustained during her service. She did not complete the doctoral program.

Her academic background, particularly her focus on international affairs and political science, provided her with policy expertise that she would later apply in her roles within the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and in Congress.

Career

Military Service

Duckworth joined the United States Army Reserve in 1992, following the military tradition of her family. She chose to become a helicopter pilot, a career field that had only recently opened to women in the U.S. military. She trained as a UH-60 Black Hawk pilot and subsequently transferred to the Illinois Army National Guard.

Duckworth was deployed to Iraq in 2004 as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. She served with the 1st Battalion, 106th Aviation Regiment of the Illinois Army National Guard and was assigned to the 28th Infantry Division.

On November 12, 2004, the Black Hawk helicopter that Duckworth was co-piloting was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) fired by Iraqi insurgents near Taji, north of Baghdad. The explosion destroyed the cockpit, and Duckworth lost both of her legs — the right leg below the knee and the left leg near the hip — and sustained severe damage to her right arm, resulting in partial loss of mobility. She was the first American female double amputee from the Iraq War.

Duckworth was rescued by members of her unit and evacuated to a military hospital. She spent over a year recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where she underwent extensive surgeries and rehabilitation. During her recovery, she became an advocate for improved care for wounded veterans, drawing attention to the needs of service members returning from combat with catastrophic injuries.

Despite the severity of her injuries, Duckworth was awarded a medical waiver that allowed her to continue serving in the Illinois Army National Guard. She continued in uniform for another decade, ultimately retiring at the rank of lieutenant colonel in 2014. During her military career, she was awarded the Purple Heart for her combat injuries and the Air Medal for her service as a pilot.

Duckworth has spoken and written extensively about her military service, including in her memoir and in appearances on programs such as C-SPAN's After Words.

Veterans' Affairs Roles

Following her recovery and the end of her first congressional campaign in 2006, Duckworth was appointed director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs by Governor Rod Blagojevich in November 2006. She served in this role until February 2009. In this capacity, she worked to improve services for the state's veterans, including expanding access to healthcare and benefits for returning service members from Iraq and Afghanistan.

In April 2009, President Barack Obama appointed Duckworth as the assistant secretary of Veterans Affairs for public and intergovernmental affairs. She served in this federal role until June 2011. In this position, Duckworth was responsible for outreach efforts between the Department of Veterans Affairs and Congress, state and local governments, and veterans' service organizations. Her appointment reflected the Obama administration's emphasis on addressing the needs of the growing population of post-9/11 veterans.

U.S. House of Representatives

Duckworth first ran for Congress in 2006, seeking to represent Illinois's 6th congressional district. She lost the general election to Republican Peter Roskam in a competitive race. After her service in the Illinois and federal veterans' affairs agencies, she ran again in 2012, this time in Illinois's 8th congressional district, following redistricting that created a more favorable electoral map.

In the 2012 election, Duckworth defeated incumbent Republican Representative Joe Walsh. The race attracted national attention due to the sharp contrast between the candidates; Walsh had drawn controversy for statements questioning Duckworth's focus on her military service. Duckworth won the election and took office on January 3, 2013.

In the House, Duckworth served on the Armed Services Committee and the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. She focused her legislative efforts on veterans' issues, military readiness, and disability rights. She was re-elected in 2014, serving a second term in the House.

During her time in the House, Duckworth gained attention for her questioning of defense contractors and government officials during committee hearings. She was a consistent advocate for accountability in military procurement and veterans' healthcare.

Her successor in the 8th district seat was Raja Krishnamoorthi, a fellow Democrat, who won election in 2016 when Duckworth vacated the seat to run for the U.S. Senate.

U.S. Senate

In 2016, Duckworth ran for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican incumbent Mark Kirk. The race was one of the most closely watched Senate contests of the cycle. Kirk drew significant criticism during the campaign for remarks he made about Duckworth's family heritage during a televised debate, which were seen as insensitive. Duckworth won the election, defeating Kirk, and took office on January 3, 2017.

In the Senate, Duckworth serves on several key committees, including the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, the Foreign Relations Committee, and the Veterans' Affairs Committee. Her committee assignments reflect her priorities in military affairs, veterans' issues, and international relations.

Duckworth's legislative work in the Senate has focused on a range of issues. She has been a consistent advocate for veterans' healthcare and benefits, working to ensure that service members have access to the care they earned through their service. In 2026, she reacted to the VA's decision to halt enforcement of a rule that she argued would have threatened veterans' ability to seek or access health coverage, calling the original rulemaking an "ambush" associated with Project 2025.

Duckworth has also focused on issues affecting families, including healthcare affordability and access to basic necessities. In 2026, she highlighted the importance of diaper banks as a resource for struggling families, participating in a diaper distribution event in Round Lake Park, Illinois. She also invited Jeremy Schumacher as her guest to the State of the Union address to highlight the issue of rising healthcare costs.

From January 2021 to February 2025, Duckworth served as vice chair of the Democratic National Committee, alongside chair Jaime Harrison.

Duckworth serves alongside Illinois's senior senator, Dick Durbin, also a Democrat. Durbin publicly defended Duckworth in 2025 after Vice President JD Vance made remarks that Durbin characterized as "low and beneath the dignity" of a vice president.

Duckworth's tenure in the Senate has been characterized by her willingness to draw on her personal military experience in debates over defense policy, veterans' affairs, and national security. She has been an outspoken critic of policies she views as detrimental to veterans and military families.

Personal Life

Duckworth is married to Bryan Bowlsbey, a fellow veteran and former officer in the United States Army Signal Corps. The couple met while both were students at George Washington University and served together in the Illinois Army National Guard.

Duckworth and Bowlsbey have two daughters. In April 2018, Duckworth gave birth to her second daughter, Maile Pearl Bowlsbey, becoming the first sitting U.S. senator to give birth while serving in office. The event led to a change in Senate rules to allow senators to bring infants onto the Senate floor during votes, a rule change that was adopted unanimously.

As a double amputee, Duckworth uses prosthetic legs and a wheelchair. She has been open about the challenges of living with her injuries and has used her personal experience to advocate for disability rights and improved accessibility in public life. Her visibility as a member of Congress with a significant physical disability has drawn attention to issues of accessibility and representation for people with disabilities in government.

Duckworth holds both American and Thai citizenship. Her Thai citizenship was documented in the Royal Gazette of Thailand.

Recognition

Duckworth's military service and political career have resulted in numerous honors and recognitions. For her service in Iraq, she received the Purple Heart, awarded to service members wounded or killed in combat, and the Air Medal, recognizing meritorious achievement in aerial flight.

She holds a number of historic distinctions in American political history. She is the first Thai American woman elected to Congress, the first person born in Thailand to serve in the U.S. Congress, and the first woman with a disability elected to Congress. Upon her election to the Senate in 2016, she became the first female double amputee to serve in the Senate. She is also the second Asian American woman to serve in the U.S. Senate, following Senator Mazie Hirono of Hawaii.

Her 2018 birth of her daughter while serving in the Senate was a historic first and received substantial media attention, bringing issues of parental leave and family-friendly workplace policies to the fore in discussions about the U.S. Congress.

Duckworth's oral history and service records are preserved in the Library of Congress as part of the Veterans History Project.

She has appeared on C-SPAN in various capacities, including an After Words interview discussing her memoir and her experiences in military and public service.

Legacy

Duckworth's career in public life has combined military service, advocacy for veterans, and elected office in a manner that has made her a prominent figure in American politics. Her injury in combat and subsequent return to public service — including a decade of continued military duty after losing both legs — has made her a symbol of resilience and commitment to service among veterans and disability rights advocates.

Her election to Congress and the Senate broke multiple barriers for representation. As the first Thai American woman and the first person born in Thailand to serve in Congress, she expanded the demographic diversity of the legislative body. As the first woman with a disability elected to Congress and the first female double amputee in the Senate, she increased the visibility of people with disabilities in positions of political power.

The Senate rule change allowing infants on the Senate floor, prompted by the birth of her daughter in 2018, represented a tangible policy change resulting from her presence in the chamber. The rule change was viewed as a step toward making the institution more accommodating of parents with young children.

Duckworth's focus on veterans' affairs throughout her career — from her state-level role in Illinois, to her federal appointment under President Obama, to her committee work in the Senate — has positioned her as one of the most prominent veteran-legislators in modern American politics. Her military record and personal sacrifice have lent authority to her advocacy on behalf of service members and veterans.

Her congressional record, including campaign finance filings and legislative activity, is documented through the Federal Election Commission and the Congress.gov legislative database.

As of 2026, Duckworth continues to serve as the junior senator from Illinois, maintaining her focus on veterans' healthcare, military readiness, family policy, and disability rights.