UPDATE: US Sen. Duckworth defeats Chicago-area lawyer, wins 2nd term

UPDATE (9:20 p.m.) Sen. Duckworth declared victory in her bid for a second six-year term. Here’s what she told supporters:

“Illinoisans have led the way. We’ve started the businesses, broken the barriers and set the milestones that have helped make this nation’s improbable story possible. Because to me, Illinois is a 58,000-square-mile community whose people see the inherent value in one another… who look out for each other. But we have to remember that what we’ve accomplished in the past doesn’t determine what we’ll achieve in the future. We can’t let up now. In order to keep leading, we need to keep making the investments that make our families, and thus our state, as strong as they and it can be.”

“I went to war to defend that document and if I could, if our nation called on me to do so once more, I’d pack my rucksack, put on my uniform and climb back into my Black Hawk to defend it once again today. Because our Constitution means that much to me. And because it does so much to protect every one of us. But lately, we’ve moved away from the rights enshrined in its pages. We haven’t done justice to the justice promised in its sentences and sentiments. So you better believe that in my next term, I’m going to keep doing everything in my power to change that.”

“I will never forget the people I’ve met over the past six years as your Senator. Your stories, your struggles, your hopes are what have fueled my determination to make your tomorrow better than your today. Sure, I know that that won’t be easy. I know there are still some folks seeking to sow seeds of division among us. I know that we’re a Union that, yes, at times has been anything but united. But the miracle of America is that when it looks like those worst instincts are set to prevail, we come together and resist. We refuse to give in to that darkness.”

CHICAGO (AP) — Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth won reelection Tuesday in Illinois, defeating political newcomer and lawyer Kathy Salvi.

Duckworth, an Iraq War veteran who lost both legs when her helicopter was shot down in 2004, has served in Congress for nearly a decade. Between 2013 and 2017, she represented Illinois’ 8th Congressional District, northwest of Chicago.

The 54-year-old was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2017, beating out incumbent Republican Mark Kirk, and in April 2018 became the first senator to give birth while in office.

Salvi, a Chicago-area personal injury lawyer, edged out six competitors to win the Republican primary in June. The 63-year-old campaigned as an alternative for voters looking for a change from soaring prices and high crime rates.

Salvi told Fox32 in July that she was in favor of cutting off aid to Ukraine in the war against Russia, but last month walked back her position, saying the U.S. needs to investigate how the money was spent before sending more.

In a joint interview sponsored by the Illinois AP Media Editors Oct. 3, Duckworth and Salvi sparred over abortion. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that abortion is not a right under the Constitution.

“She wants to rip freedom away from women,” first-term incumbent Duckworth said of her opponent.

Salvi cast Duckworth’s position as extreme, saying “there isn’t an abortion she doesn’t support.”

Duckworth said Salvi misstated her stance, and that she supports Illinois’ restrictions on abortions after viability — about 24 weeks of pregnancy — as well as codifying Roe v. Wade.

Salvi said in an Oct. 27 debate that she opposes abortion but supports exceptions in cases of rape, incest, or threat to a patient’s life.