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Results Are In: Did HRC Avoid Mistake in Illinois Senate Race?

Tammy Duckworth and Mark Kirk

The race saw controversy when Republican Kirk was endorsed the the Human Rights Campaign, which revoked its backing due to his racist remark in a debate.

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Democrat Tammy Duckworth has won a U.S. Senate seat from Illinois over incumbent Republican Mark Kirk, who was endorsed by the Human Rights Campaign and then unendorsed.

Both are LGBT-friendly. Kirk was the first Republican senator to endorse the Equality Act, which would ban anti-LGBT discrimination nationwide. He received a perfect score of 100 on HRC's scorecard for the current session of Congress, up from 78 in the previous session. All of those factors contributed to his winning the endorsement, which was yanked back after Kirk made a racist remark during a debate with Duckworth.

Duckworth, a two-term House member from a suburban Chicago district, had a perfect score in both sessions. Her win gives the Democrats an important pickup in the Senate as they try to regain control of the chamber, and it might mean HRC avoided a serious misstep.

Several pundits excoriated HRC for the Kirk endorsement. "By all accounts, Duckworth is an exceptional candidate," Eric Sasson wrote for The New Republic. "She is an Iraq War veteran who was wounded in battle; the first Asian-American woman elected to Congress in Illinois; the first disabled woman to be elected to the House of Representatives, ever. If there ever was a candidate that an organization accused of having a diversity problem should not be opposing, it's Tammy Duckworth." Duckworth, a helicopter pilot, suffered the loss of both legs and damage to her arm in a crash in Iraq.

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Slate's Mark Stern, a blogger on LGBT issues, called the endorsement "an unforced error of astonishing ineptitude." Daily Kos contributor David Nir termed it "shameful" and "rank idiocy," designed to "keep donations flowing from corporations and wealthy gay Republicans."

HRC officials, though, noted the need to make the fight for equality a bipartisan one, and that the group rewards incumbents who have stood up for equality, regardless of party. The group's president, Chad Griffin, also pointed out that when Kirk returned to work in November 2013 after recovering from a stroke, the first speech he made was about the need for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, the predecessor to the Equality Act. It was passed by the Senate but failed to get a hearing in the House.

Then Kirk lost the HRC's goodwill and that of many voters during a debate with Duckworth in October. Duckworth was touting her forebears' military service, saying, "My family has served this nation in uniform, going back to the Revolution. I'm a daughter of the American Revolution. I've bled for this nation." Kirk responded, "I had forgotten that your parents came all the way from Thailand to serve George Washington."

Kirk apologized the next day, and HRC stood by him until a day later, when it revoked his endorsement and announced it was backing Duckworth. "Attacking someone because of her race and ethnicity is inexcusable for anyone, but especially for a sitting U.S. Senator," Griffin wrote in an open letter. "The diversity of our movement is our greatest strength, and Senator Kirk's remarks were an affront to our most fundamental values. We have therefore voted to endorse Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth, who has been a strong LGBTQ ally in the House of Representatives, and HRC will contribute the maximum amount to her campaign. We look forward to working with her in the Senate to secure full federal equality for all LGBTQ Americans."