March 16--Just when you thought the election season was behind you, or at least taking a nice long vacation in other states, we have news for you. The race to November starts now. Tuesday's primary brought a healthy turnout of Illinois voters to vet candidates for local, state and federal races. It's on.
Early results showed U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, who's trying to keep his job, ahead of his Republican opponent, business owner James Marter of Oswego. Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth was comfortably leading her two opponents, former prosecutor Andrea Zopp and state Sen. Napoleon Harris, for the Democratic nomination to challenge Kirk.
That means Kirk and Duckworth are -- in all likelihood -- headed for a Nov. 8 showdown in what has been described as one of the most competitive U.S. Senate races in the country. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee views Illinois as an opportunity to pick up a Democratic Senate seat after the party lost nine in 2014 and handed power to the Republicans.
The Republicans hold a 54-46 seat advantage, counting two independents who caucus with the Democrats. Nationwide, 24 Republican seats and 10 Democratic seats are up for election.
So Republicans will be fighting this fall to keep their majority, including seats that Kirk and several other first-term Republicans won in the election of 2010 -- a Republican wave election that President Barack Obama ruefully admitted was the Democrats' "shellacking."
Duckworth is a two-term congresswoman from Hoffman Estates with strong name recognition and an American hero story. She lost her legs in Iraq in 2004 after a rocket-propelled grenade struck the Army Black Hawk helicopter she was piloting.
Her military experience makes her a respected voice on veterans issues and, as a member of the House Armed Services Committee, an authority on spending and defense.
She has criticized cost overruns and technical glitches that dog development of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
Some national political observers give Duckworth the edge against Kirk -- one publication called Kirk the most "endangered" incumbent in the U.S. Senate -- but Illinois voters tend to support moderates like Kirk in statewide races.
Thus far he's done a good job of distinguishing himself from the more hard-right elements of his party. Among several examples:
Following the mass shooting of 20 children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in December 2012, Kirk showed independence from Republicans loyal to the firearms lobby by supporting legislation mandating federal background checks for gun buyers. He at times has defended actions of his Democratic comrade from Illinois, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, and he refused at first to campaign for Durbin's last GOP opponent. Kirk also has agreed with Senate Democrats and Obama on the need to nominate a U.S. Supreme Court justice, rather than stall the selection process until after a new president takes office in January.
Kirk's campaign allies already have been looking toward November, focusing on Duckworth and her voting record -- and sending out a controversial tweet. The National Republican Senatorial Committee criticized Duckworth on social media for "not standing up for our veterans." The tweet was quickly taken down, but not before being roundly panned as boorish, given her disability.
The irony is that Kirk uses a wheelchair sometimes, too, following a debilitating stroke in 2012. He spent almost a year recovering.
So how will Duckworth distinguish herself from Kirk, the moderate Midwestern Republican whose positions on several prominent issues aren't markedly different than hers?
We'll find out -- perhaps in TV ads that air sooner rather than later. Don't be surprised if each of these candidates moves fast to define the other for voters.
