Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL) took to Twitter to apologize for making a racially-charged comment about challenger Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) during Thursday’s senate debate.
“Sincere apologies to an America hero, Tammy Duckworth, and gratitude for her family’s service,” Kirk wrote in a Friday post.
Sincere apologies to an American hero, Tammy Duckworth, and gratitude for her family’s service. #ilsen
— Mark Kirk (@MarkKirk) October 28, 2016
The Illinois Republican was roundly criticized for sarcastically joking that Duckworth’s family immigrated from Thailand after she spoke about their decades of service in the U.S. military.
“I had forgotten that your parents came all the way from Thailand to serve George Washington,” Kirk said of Duckworth, a veteran who lost both legs in the Iraq War and was born in Thailand to a U.S. Marine father and Thai-Chinese mother.
Duckworth’s campaign sent out a fundraising email on Friday drawing on Kirk’s “appalling” debate-night comment.