CHICAGO (AP) – Republican U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk and Democratic U.S. Rep. Tammy Duckworth are talking up their personal stories as they make their final push to voters.

Both U.S. Senate candidates are disabled and have triumphed over adversity. But those story lines took a back seat for much of the race as Kirk went on the attack against Duckworth.

Now Kirk is circling back to a positive TV ad that recounts his 2012 stroke and grueling recovery, saying he returned to work determined to put Illinois residents before his party. On Sunday he plans to join fellow stroke survivors to climb the stairs of Chicago’s Willis Tower.

Duckworth’s final TV ad references the day her helicopter was shot down in Iraq in 2004. She says she knows what it’s like to fight.