President Barack Obama is scheduled to attend a fundraiser for Rep. Tammy Duckworth’s Senate campaign on Chicago’s South Side next month, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Duckworth is currently locked in one of the nation's tightest Senate races with Republican incumbent Mark Kirk.
Vice President Joe Biden was in town Wednesday for a separate Duckworth fundraiser. Both Obama and Biden endorsed Duckworth’s candidacy in April.
“I’m proud to support Tammy Duckworth for the seat I once held in the United States Senate,” Obama said in a statement. “Few people fight as passionately for our veterans as Tammy.”
“Tammy Duckworth is already a champion for her fellow veterans,” the president added. “And in the United States Senate, Tammy will continue to be a champion for her fellow working families from Illinois.”
According to the Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet, the event will be on Oct. 9 and hosts include Obama Foundation chair Martin Nesbitt and his wife, physician Anita Blanchard, as well as artist Theater Gates, a professor in the Department of Visual Art and Director of Arts and Public Life at the University of Chicago. Gates also serves on the Obama Foundation’s design advisory committee. Democratic activist John Atkinson and his wife, Bonnie, are also slated to host.
The fundraiser will be held at the Stony Island Arts Bank, which was founded by Gates, the Sun-Times reports. Tickets range from $1,000 for an individual donation to $12,7000 in a pledged contribution or a promise to raise that much money from others. Top donors and fundraisers will also receive a VIP reception and a photo.
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Proceeds from the fundraiser will benefit the Illinois Coordinated Victory Fund 2016, a joint fundraising committee with the Democratic Party of Illinois and Tammy for Illinois, according to the report.
