Tammy Duckworth’s decisive primary victory in last week’s 8th Congressional District primary race sets up a showdown with U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh (R-McHenry), who emerged as a national Tea Party leader during his two years in Congress.

Duckworth is also a national figure, and this race – to be decided by Northwest suburban Chicago voters – is a litmus test for both the national Democratic Party and the national Tea Party movement.

Duckworth said her status could work to her advantage if elected. “My national connections will make me a very unique voice,” she told Progress Illinois. “I will be able to help voters immediately because of my national experience.”

“Joe Walsh said that he wants to be a poster child for the Tea Party,” Duckworth said. “He has forgotten who he serves.”

Also, Duckworth said she would challenge Walsh to specifically ban so-called Super Political Action Committee, or Super PAC, contributions from his campaign. Super PAC’s enable candidates to accept unlimited money as long they don’t directly coordinate with donors.

“Super PACs are a very distinct thing,” Duckworth noted, adding that they “dilute the voices” of constituents.

Duckworth said that she would like a mutual Super PAC ban like the one agreed to between Massachusetts U.S. Senate candidates Scott Brown (R) and Elizabeth Warren (D).

Walsh has demurred on the Super PAC pledge. He alternately proposed, in a Daily Herald interview, that each campaign disclose where they get money. Calls to Walsh’s campaign for this article were not returned.

The incumbent has repeatedly charged that Duckworth is a tool of President Barack Obama political strategist David Axlerod and Rep. Steve Israel (D-New York), chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, or DCCC.

Duckworth emerged on the national scene following her return from the Iraq War, where she lost her legs in 2004 as an Army helicopter pilot. The DCCC, which was headed by then-Congressman Rahm Emanuel, siphoned time and money to Duckworth in her 2006 Illinois 6th District race against Republican Peter Roskam for the seat of retiring, long-time congressman Henry Hyde (R).

Almost identical to Walsh today, Roskam frequently slammed Duckworth for her support from Emanuel and also national liberals. “I’m not the Rosie O’Donnell candidate, the Al Franken candidate who is all tied up with the Chicago Democratic machine,” Roskam told the New York Times a week prior to the 2006 election.

While the Democrats took back Congress in 2006, Roskam beat Duckworth 51 percent to 49 percent, and continues to represent the 6th District, as a Wheaton resident. Duckworth accepted a post with the Illinois Veterans Affairs Department. She then served as assistant secretary for Veterans Affairs in the Obama administration.

Duckworth announced her run for Illinois’ 8th District in July 2011, shortly after the Democratic-controlled Illinois General Assembly redrew the district to include heavily Democratic precincts in northwest Cook and DuPage Counties. Duckworth knocked off primary challenger Raja Krishnamoorthi 66 percent to 33 percent in last week's primary election.

Duckworth says her convincing victory proves she connects with 8th District voters. “I am going around and sitting in people’s living rooms and having coffees,” Duckworth said. “We would just sit for an hour and talk.”

These conversations, Duckworth says, often focused on jobs, social security, and Medicare.

Duckworth warns that conservative lawmakers like Walsh would pass legislation like the 2013 GOP budget proposed by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) that would turn Medicare into a voucher program, where seniors would use vouchers with private insurers.

“My mother is 70 years-old,” Duckworth says. “How is she going to negotiate with an insurance company?”

While national Democrats support Duckworth, Walsh’s relationship to the Republican Party is complex. He is often to the right of Republicans. There is speculation Republican leaders forced Walsh to run in the redrawn 8th, rather than his original choice to run in the 14th – where Walsh would have butted up against GOP U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren, a more consistent voter with the Republican majority.

On the other hand, none other than Peter Roskam donated $100,000 to the Walsh campaign. Crain’s Chicago Business reports that other Republicans could give big contributions if the race is close.

Walsh already seized on the notion that he's the underdog despite incumbent status – he unseated former U.S. Rep. Melissa Bean (D) 51 percent to 49 percent in the 2010 election. “In many ways, I’m the challenger,” Walsh claimed in a colorful Politico interview. “I’m the guy who sleeps in my office, I’m the guy who goes at the establishment on both sides.”

Image: AP