Duckworth Projected Winner For U.S. Senate: AP

ILLINOIS — U.S. Sen Tammy Duckworth has been reelected by Illinois voters and will return to Washington after she defeated Republican challenger Kathy Salvi in a race called minutes after polls closed in Illinois, the Associated Press projected on Tuesday night.

Salvi, who has blamed Duckworth and her loyalties to President Joe Biden for many of the issues facing Illinoisans, was hoping to take over the Senate seat from the popular Democrat and war veteran. But Duckworth, who attacked Salvi for her stance on reproductive health rights for women and for getting an "A" from the National Rifle Association, soundly defeated the Republican in one of the first races in Illinois to be called by the AP.

Duckworth took the stage at her watch party at the Adler Planetarium in Chicago just before 8 p.m. on Tuesday and said that Salvi had called to concede the election. In a recent televised debate, both candidates said that they would admit defeat if the voters made a clear choice.

In her victory speech, Duckworth said she planned to represent all of Illinois in her second term in the U.S. Senate.

"My life is the American Dream come true," Duckworth said. "And I'm honored to keep working to help every kid in every pocket of Illinois realize their own dreams, too.

In the speech, Duckworth said she vowed to keep working to represent the state's veterans as well as women after she campaigned as someone who would help protect the reproductive health rights of women after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade at the federal level. While abortion remains legal in Illinois, Duckworth said he will work at the federal level to fight for women's rights.

She said that Tuesday's results in her race showed that Illinois is a state that "damn sure gets that politicians have no place in a woman's OB-GYN appointment."

Duckworth called Illinois a state where people see the inherent value in one another and look out for one another regardless of their walk in life. But she said that as much as the state has done in the past, that won't determine what can be achieved in the future.

"We can't let up now," Duckworth said.

Six years have passed since Duckworth made history, becoming only the second woman in Illinois’ history to capture the office.

Duckworth, who was on President Joe Biden’s shortlist as a candidate for vice president in the 2020 election, has taken clear stances on gun violence, women’s productive health rights and immigration. Salvi, however, has linked Duckworth’s philosophy with a Biden presidency she believes has failed both Illinois and the rest of the country since Biden took up residency in the White House more than 18 months ago.

West Dundee Libertarian Bill Redpath was also on Tuesday's ballot, but it has Duckworth and Salvi who have garnered the majority of the attention for the Senate seat.

In a recent televised debate with Salvi, Duckworth said she was sent to Washington by voters to “find common-sense solutions” and said sensible gun control legislation that would curb gun violence in areas like Chicago, where murder and other violent crime have been prevalent for decades.

She said that an assault weapons ban needs to be passed along with a ban on high-capacity magazines.

“That would get those guns off the street,” Duckworth said in the WTTW debate with Salvi, whom Duckworth said has received an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association and who, according to the senator, said would never vote for an assault weapons ban.

Salvi said that the country has a mental health crisis that needs addressing, and also said unsafe streets have created more of an issue than the guns themselves. She cited mental health issues for the Highland Park July 4 mass shooting that killed seven people and injured nearly 50 more people.

Salvi said as a U.S. Senator, she would focus on mental health treatment and how that can improve communities. Salvi accused Duckworth of having “soft on crime" policies that send a mixed signal. Asked by debate hosts if she would support a ban on assault weapons, however, Salvi never answered.

Duckworth said she’s proud of the bipartisan work she has done to create common-sense solutions, including in a piece of legislation that she says provides support and funding for police officers and first responders who develop post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of their service, Duckworth said.

Salvi, who ran for Congress in 2006, called Duckworth’s support of Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot “reckless” after Salvi said that Lightfoot stripped $52 million in funding for the Chicago Police Department.

Duckworth also said the country is in need of comprehensive immigration reform, but said that begins with acknowledging that there is a crisis at the U.S.-Mexico border. She said that any reform needs to be practical, humane, and fair at a time when more than 3,500 asylum seekers have arrived in Illinois and Chicago as a sanctuary city.

Salvi, meanwhile, says the U.S. has a humanitarian crisis at its borders and said that people who enter the country illegally are dying by the day. She claims Duckworth has voted against every measure of protection at the southern border and voted against the addition of more border patrol officers.

“You are part of the problem,” Salvi said during the WTTW debate, saying that the Biden administration’s stance on border patrol has added to the fentanyl problem in the country.

On women’s productive health rights, Salvi characterized the Supreme Court’s decision on Roe. v. Wade “good”, saying abortion laws need to be decided at the state level rather than at the federal level. Salvi said she supports exceptions such as to save the life of the mother or cases of rape or incest when it comes to abortion, as well as the regulation of “big-business abortion.”

She said she considers herself “pro-life, pro-woman, and pro-child” and called Duckworth a “radical extremist on the issue of abortion.”

Duckworth said she would like to see the court’s decision on federal abortion rights reversed with the restrictions that are provided in the Roe v. Wade legislation and Illinois law which points to the 24-week point of viability.

“With my daughters, I’m not going to allow them to grow up in a world where they have less rights than I do,” Duckworth said.

The two candidates also disagreed on how to fix inflation and solve the nation’s economic woes. Salvi again pointed to Duckworth’s history of supporting Biden administration policies and said making the country stronger economically is the predominant reason why she is seeking office.

She said that every worker in Illinois is affected because of the “reckless” budget bill that Duckworth and other Democrats voted for in 2021. She said Duckworth has been a “100 percent rubber stamp” for Biden-pushed agenda.

“I am running because we can’t un-elect Joe Biden,” Salvi said. “But what we can do is un-elect Tammy Duckworth this November.”

Duckworth, meanwhile, pointed to profits made by large oil and pharmaceutical companies as the reason for the nation’s struggling economy. Duckworth also says that the cost of college education needs to be addressed as the issue of college loan forgiveness remains unsolved.

Duckworth said she supports Biden’s plan to forgive up to $10,000 in student loans, but that it needs to be a one-time thing. Duckworth said that college should be affordable for anyone who wants a college education, and that it should happen so that students can emerge debt-free.

Salvi said, however, that student loan forgiveness would instead drive up the cost of tuition and says it is “palpably unfair” to put that burden on the American taxpayer.

Asked if each candidate would concede the election if they were to lose, both Duckworth and Salvi said they would indeed concede, which was one of the few issues both candidates agree on heading into Election Day.