But when he ran for reelection, his stroke really hurt his physical and mental capabilities to the point where he was no longer capable of being the same candidate that he was six years earlier.
I wasn't paying attention to this race in '16 so I looked it up, and my God, I never knew he was the one who made that gaffe about Duckworth's family fighting (or not fighting, rather) in the revolutionary war. I was familiar with the episode but had just assumed it was from some no-name Tea Party candidate who Duckworth beat in a House race, not a sitting Senator.
It's pretty tragic reading about it in that context.
