Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq war veteran who underwent bilateral lower-limb amputations in 2004, was elected on November 6 as congresswoman for Illinois’ 8th congressional district of the U.S. House of Representatives. Duckworth’s amputations were the result of injuries sustained when a rocket-propelled grenade struck the helicopter she was flying while on a mission over Baghdad. The former assistant secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs in the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and former director of the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs, will serve a two-year term in the 113th Congress starting in January 2013.