Obama, Biden endorse Duckworth in Illinois Senate race

Rep. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) now has the backing of President Obama and Vice President Biden in her bid to unseat Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) in a competitive race that could determine control of the Senate.

{mosads}”Few people fight as passionately for our veterans as Tammy,” President Obama’s office said in a statement to Politico.

“Soon after I was first elected President, I asked her to join my administration and serve her fellow veterans at the VA. She served with purpose and distinction — service that continued when she ran for Congress and won. … Tammy Duckworth is already a champion for her fellow veterans,” Obama added while praising Duckworth, a wounded Iraq war veteran.

That race could be one of the tightest elections of 2016 as Duckworth seeks to unseat the one-term senator. An internal poll from the Kirk campaign released Monday shows Duckworth with 42.7 percent of support to Kirk’s 39.6 percent ahead of the November contest.

Duckworth has also earned the backing of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Illinois lawmakers including Sen. Dick Durbin. She was first elected to the House in 2012.