Former Representative Gabby Giffords, who survived a life-threatening shooting in 2011, expressed strong belief in Vice President Kamala Harris’s ability to challenge the gun lobby during her speech at the Democratic National Convention’s closing night.
Giffords, a Congress member from 2006 until her resignation in 2012, was lauded as a promising figure in the Democratic Party before the tragic incident at a Tucson, Arizona supermarket during a meet-and-greet, which resulted in six deaths and numerous injuries.
Reflecting on her past, Giffords noted, “For five years, I served in Congress from a swing district. Everybody called me a rising star.” She described the day of the shooting as “a terrible, terrible day.”
After the incident, Giffords stepped back from her congressional role to concentrate on her recovery, ultimately becoming a prominent advocate for gun reform. Despite her ongoing struggles with speech, she demonstrated significant improvement during her address.
“I almost died. But I fought for my life and I survived. I learned to walk again, one step at a time. I learned to talk again, one word at a time,” she shared.
Giffords expressed gratitude to President Biden for his continued support over the years, labeling him a “decent man,” and praised Harris for her tenacity, declaring, “Kamala can beat the gun lobby.”
The convention also featured testimonies from other victims of gun violence, including a Sandy Hook massacre survivor and the mother of a student killed in the Uvalde shooting.
Giffords was joined by her husband, Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, who humorously remarked about following Giffords and singer Pink during his speech. He expressed admiration for his wife’s resilience in overcoming her challenges related to aphasia.
“She was able to walk out and address you tonight because she’s a fighter,” Kelly stated, before turning to international issues and criticizing former President Trump for his approach to foreign relations, particularly concerning authoritarian leaders.
Kelly commended Harris for her support of U.S. troops, NATO, Ukraine, and maintaining democratic principles, emphasizing the stark difference between her stance and that of Trump, who has been criticized for derogatory comments about service members.
Entering politics in 2020 to fill the late John McCain’s Senate seat, Kelly, a former astronaut, succeeded in flipping a historically Republican seat, marking a significant win for the Democratic Party in Arizona. He was re-elected in 2022, and his name had previously emerged as a candidate for Harris’s running mate as well as a potential replacement for President Biden amid ongoing discussions about his political future.