By Erick Johnson
General Lloyd Austin
She won Chicago’s powerful Black electorate to win her first term as U.S. Senator from Illinois. Today, Senator Tammy Duckworth is standing firm against granting a waiver to allow retired Army General Lloyd Austin to be confirmed as the nation’s first Black Secretary of Defense. Her mentor, fellow Senator Dick Durbin, who once again swept Chicago’s 18 Black wards, remains silent on whether he will grant President-elect Joe Biden’s nomination a waiver.
Both Duckworth and Durbin in 2016 were among 17 senators who voted against a waiver to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. He prevailed anyway with 81senators voting in favor of his waiver. Duckworth and Durbin were among 98 out of 99 senators who later voted to confirm Mattis as Defense Secretary.