Gabrielle Giffords



Gabrielle Giffords, a Democrat, has represented the Eighth Congressional District of Arizona in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2007. (map)

On January 8, 2011, Giffords was one of several people shot at a supermarket near Tucson, Arizona where she was meeting publicly with constituents. She was taken into emergency surgery, in critical condition from a gunshot wound to the head. A surgeon treating Giffords has commented that he is optimistic about her chance for recovery.

Commentators, bloggers and opinion writers used Giffords' shooting to highlight a list of American social ills, including high barriers to mental health treatment, dangerous gaps in gun control laws and the increase in violent rhetoric conservatives have used in American political campaigns.

Environmental record
For more information on environmental legislation, see the Energy and Environment Policy Portal

Biography
Giffords was born in Tuscon, Arizona in 1970. Giffords graduated from University High School (Tucson). She received a B.A. in Sociology and Latin American History from Scripps College, in Claremont, California, in 1993, and a Masters of Regional Planning from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York in 1996. Giffords was a Fulbright Scholar and a fellow at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. She later operated her own business and investment capital firm in the Tuscon area. 

Giffords began her career as a legislator in the Arizona House of Representatives, where she served from 2000 to 2002. Giffords was elected to the Arizona Senate in the fall of 2002 and is the youngest woman ever elected to this body. She took office in January of 2003 and was re-elected in 2004. She resigned from the Arizona Senate on December 1, 2005, in preparation for her congressional campaign.

Giffords is married to astronaut Mark E. Kelly, a veteran of two shuttle missions. Kelly was the pilot for space shuttle mission STS-121 in 2006. STS-121 included the first shuttle launch on the Fourth of July. Giffords participated in a NASA tradition when she selected "Beautiful Day," by U2 as one of the wake-up calls for the shuttle crew.

Giffords is an avid reader and was featured on NPR's Weekend Edition on July 9 2006. She discussed books she was currently reading. These included: First Man, a biography of astronaut Neil Armstrong and Heartless Stone'', a book that exposes unsavory aspects of the diamond industry.

After Hurricane Katrina struck in the late summer of 2005, Giffords spent time as a volunteer in Houston, Texas, helping those displaced by the storm. She wrote about her experience in the Tucson Citizen.

2006 election
Giffords announced her intention to run for Congress on January 24, 2006. The launch was attended by hundreds of people including leading Tucson residents and politicians. Giffords’ campaign was endorsed by many prominent Democrats, such as former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) and former Clinton Labor Secretary Robert Reich. The top American political action committee, Emily's List, endorsed Giffords as well. On September 12, 2006, Giffords won her party's nomination in the Democratic primary. The Republican primary winner was Randy Graf, a conservative who is backed by the Club for Growth.

Giffords defeated Graf in the election to take control of the seat formerly held by Rep. Jim Kolbe, who retired.

Committees and Affiliations

 * House Committee on Armed Services
 * Subcommittee on Air and Land Forces
 * Subcommittee on Readiness
 * House Committee on Foreign Affairs
 * Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere
 * House Committee on Science and Technology
 * Subcommittee on Environment and Energy

Contact
DC Office: 502 Cannon House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Phone:(202) 225-2542 Fax: (202) 225-0378 Web Email Website

Tucson Congressional Office: 1661 North Swan Suite 112 Tucson, AZ 85712 Phone:(520) 881-3588 Fax: (520) 322-9490

Sierra Vista Congressional Office: 77 Calle Portal Suite B - 160 Sierra Vista, AZ 85635 Phone:(520) 459-3115 Fax: (520) 459-5419

Resources

 * Giffords for Congress, official campaign site.

Local blogs and discussion sites

 * AZ Congress Watch
 * Man Eegee - Latino Politico
 * Daniel's News and Views
 * Rum, Romanism, and Rebellion
 * Western Democrat
 * Blog for Arizona

Articles

 * Jerry Skurnik, " Congressional Elections - Good for the Jews (and the Buddhists)," Room Eight, November 8, 2006.