Gabrielle Giffords papers

Gabrielle Dee Giffords was born June 8, 1970 in Tucson, Arizona to Spencer and Gloria Giffords. She graduated from University High School in 1988 and attended Scripps College. Graduating in 1993, she majored in Latin American studies and sociology after which she won a Fulbright Scholarship and spent a year studying in Chihuahua, Mexico. She then attended Cornell University, graduating with a master’s degree in regional planning in 1996. She returned to Tucson to run her family tire business until it was sold in 2000. She married U.S. Navy pilot and NASA astronaut Mark Kelly in 2007.

In 2000 she ran for state office citing the difficulties in owning a small business as an impetus for running. She was elected to the Arizona House from 2001 to 2003 and the Arizona Senate from 2003 to 2005 when she resigned to pursue the soon to be vacated US House seat held by Congressman Jim Kolbe. She was elected to Arizona’s 8th congressional district for the 110th to 112th Congress. She served on the Armed Services, Foreign Affairs and Science and Technology committees throughout her congressional career. She was also the ranking member of the Space and Aeronautics subcommittee of the Space and Technology committee during the 111th Congress. She was a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, supported immigration reform and border security and was an advocate for solar energy.

On January 8, 2011 at a “Congress on your Corner” event a gunman killed six and injured 13 others. Federal Judge John Roll and Giffords staffer Gabriel Zimmerman were among those killed. Giffords was shot in the head but survived and made a remarkable recovery. She returned to the House to vote on the debt ceiling bill in August 2011 but resigned from Congress in January 2012 to focus on her recovery.

Since her resignation Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly have focused on gun control legislation. On the second anniversary of the Tucson shooting, they launched Americans for Responsible Solutions, a political action committee aimed at the prevention of gun violence and responsible gun ownership.