Tammy Duckworth running for Congress again, in redrawn 8th

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Tammy Duckworth is considering another run for Congress. | Sun-Times Media

Updated: October 20, 2011 12:27AM

Tammy Duckworth made it official on Wednesday, launching a run for Congress from the north/northwest suburban Illinois 8th Congressional District, carved out by Illinois Democrats to give Democrats a boost.

Duckworth, a wounded Iraq war veteran, resigned last month as Assistant Secretary of Public and Intergovernmental Affairs at the Veteran’s Administration — an appointee of President Obama — and returned to her home in Hoffman Estates.

“My father served in Vietnam, my brother served in the Coast Guard, and my husband continues to serve on active duty, because our family believes in this great nation. There are plenty of folks in Washington who serve political ideology and personal ambition. I want to continue serving our county,” she said in a statement.

She added, “It’s time to tell John Boehner, Karl Rove and the tea party crowd that you can’t balance the budget on the backs of seniors. You can’t serve multi-national corporations first and American families last. And you won’t build a better future by tearing down our economy brick by brick and shipping it overseas.”

Duckworth faces a Democratic primary with Raja Krishnamoorthi, who lost a Democratic primary bid for comptroller last year.

Krishnamoorthi said in a statement he will not back down for the better known Duckworth. “I respect Tammy Duckworth and any others who would enter the race.”

Duckworth lost a 2006 House bid to Rep. Peter Roskam (R-Ill.) in the current 6th District. She ran with the backing of then Sen. Barack Obama, Sen. Dick Durbin, now Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who then ran the House political operation.

There is no incumbent in the new 8th District. The current 8th is represented by freshman Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.), who has not commented on his 2012 plans.

This will be one of the most watched House races in the nation — as Democrats focus on Illinois — hoping to erase GOP House 2010 gains.