Gabrielle Giffords

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Gabrielle Giffords

Representative-elect from Arizona's 8th district
Term of office: term begins 2007
Political party:	Democratic
Succeeding:	Jim Kolbe
Religion:	Jewish
Born:	June 8, 1970 Tucson, Arizona
Spouse:	Engaged to Mark Kelly

Gabrielle Giffords (born June 8, 1970) a Democratic politician from Tucson, Arizona is Congresswoman-elect for Arizona's 8th Congressional District. She was elected on November 7, 2006 to the U.S. House of Representatives and is scheduled to take office January 3, 2007. The seat is currently held by Republican Jim Kolbe, who is retiring.

Giffords is the youngest woman ever to be elected to the Arizona Senate. She is the third woman in Arizona's history to be elected to serve in the U.S. Congress and she is the only woman elected as part of Arizona's congressional delegation to the 110th Congress. She is also Arizona's first Jewish Congresswoman.[1]

She is a member of the Democratic Leadership Council.

1 Campaign for Congress
2 Career in Arizona legislature
3 Business career
4 Personal
- 4.1 Katrina volunteer
- 4.2 Education
5 References
6 External links
7 See also

[edit] Campaign for Congress

Main article: Arizona 8th congressional district election, 2006

Giffords launched her campaign on January 24, 2006. The campaign received national attention early on as a likely pick-up for the Democratic Party. Prominent Democrats endorsed Giffords including Tom Daschle, Robert Reich, Janet Napolitano, and Bill Clinton. Emily's List, a top American political action committee, endorsed Giffords early in the campaign cycle.^[1] This was an important endorsement because of their ability to help candidates raise money and their past sucesses in helping get their candidates elected. The Sierra Club and the Arizona Education Association also endorsed her.^[2]

On September 12, 2006 Giffords won her party's nomination in the primary election.

Her Republican opponent in the general election was Randy Graf, a conservative known for his positions on immigration and illegal aliens. The national press portrayed his defeat as evidence that Americans are less extreme in their anti-immigration positions than Graf. Graf self-identified with the outspoken Republican members of the 109th Congress who opposed President Bush's proposed immigration reforms. Graf's candidacy was mentioned in the media frequently before and after the election as a test case of voters' feelings toward immigration issues.^[3] However, all propositions in the general election relating to restricting benefits to illegal aliens passed by wide margins, so the characterization of the national press may not be accurate.

Giffords won the race on November 7, 2006 with 54% of the vote. Graf received 42% of the vote. The rest of the vote went to minor candidates.

[edit] Positions on immigration and Mexico

Arizona's 8th Congressional District is one of the ten in the country bordering Mexico. Giffords lived in Mexico as a Fulbright scholar in the early 1990s. As a congresswoman, she hopes to promote immigration reform. Her opponents have accused her of supporting amnesty, a charge she flatly denies. She supports stronger penalties against employers hiring illegal immigrants and she would like to see a new system allowing work permits for foreign citizens who apply for them. “We should take advantage of our proximity to Mexico and promote development of private initiative, free trade, and support for Mexico in creating new jobs. For example, in Agua Prieta, Sonora, alone, 17 of the ‘maquiladora’ factories have moved to Asia,” Giffords said. ^[4]

[edit] Economic policy testimonial

From Robert Reich: “Our economic policy is headed in the wrong direction for businesses and for families, and it will take real leadership to change direction. That leadership is what Gabrielle Giffords has to offer. I have known Gabrielle Giffords for many years and she impressed me from the outset...Her support of a higher minimum wage at both the state and national level is representative of the understanding that she has for the concerns of working men and women. I spent time with her in Tucson meeting with union leaders and members at the IBEW Hall on Tucson Blvd. this spring and I was impressed at her command of the economic issues facing both Arizona and the nation.” ^[5]

[edit] Position on education

Giffords emphasizes that Americans are competing on a global level and that this competition starts in the classroom. She is a critic of the No Child Left Behind law, viewing it as an unfunded federal mandate. She is a graduate of public schools and supports them with a variety of proposals to make them more effective.

Giffords was a Fulbright Scholar and a fellow at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

[edit] Career in Arizona legislature

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.

In early 2005, Giffords said of the Arizona Legislature: "The previous two legislatures enjoyed the benefits of a working coalition consisting of Democrats and middle-of-the-road Republicans. Due to a lack of competitive legislative districts and low voter turnout during GOP primaries, a fairly large crop of mostly conservative Republicans will dominate the House and Senate in 2005." Giffords' concerns played out as an increasingly conservative legislature combined with a Democratic governor, led to increased polarity in Arizona politics. ^[6]

[edit] Record on healthcare

Healthcare for the poor was a major issue for Giffords when she served in the legislature. She worked to expand health care coverage for low-income women and children by sponsoring a number of bills. She wanted to change the law to allow schools to help children who lacked health insurance. She sponsored a cancer control plan for Arizona and was a leader in investigating the issue of cervical cancer. She pushed for state support of rural health care. She also push for bills related to mental health and was named by the Mental Health Association of Arizona as the 2004 Legislator of the Year.

[edit] Record on the environment

While serving as a senator, Giffords earned the Sierra Club's most valuable player award. ^[7]

[edit] Record on education

In the legislature, Giffords worked on the bipartisan Children’s Caucus which sought to improve education and health care for Arizona’s children. Critics of this plan argued that it amounted to taxpayer funded daycare. She worked with Arizona's Governor Janet Napolitano to promote all-day kindergarten. Giffords supported raising more money for schools "through sponsorship of supplemental state aid through bonds and tax credits that could be used for school supplies." She was awarded Arizona Family Literacy’s Outstanding Legislator for 2003. ^[8]

[edit] Business career

Giffords is the managing Partner at Giffords Capital Management, a property management company based in Tucson. Prior to this she served as President and CEO at El Campo Tire Warehouses. El Campo was a local automotive chain founded by her grandfather. In 2000, she oversaw the sale of the company to Goodyear Tire. At the time of the sale she commented on the difficulties local businesses face when competing against large national firms. Giffords said "I’m really proud of being able to return to Arizona and help my family in 1996 and take over a tire business that had serious challenges." [2]

[edit] Personal

Giffords is engaged 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 The Heartless Stone a book reported from several continents that exposes unsavory aspects of the diamond industry.

[edit] Katrina volunteer

After Hurricane Katrina struck in the late summer of 2005, Giffords spent time as a volunteer in Houston, helping those displaced by the storm. She wrote about her experience in the Tucson Citizen. [3]

[edit] Education

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 Master of Regional Planning from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York in 1996.

[edit] References

^ "EMILY's List Announces Endorsement of Gabrielle Giffords for Arizona’s 8th Congressional District", Emily's List, June 14, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-11-09.
^ "Democratic contender gets support in House race", Phoenix Business Journal, June 13, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-11-09.
^ "Voters reject immigrant-bashing among candidates", San Jose Mercury News, November 12, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-11-12.
^ "Giffords Seen as Successor to Kolbe", La Voz (republished on candidate's web site and translated to English), June 15, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-11-12.
^ "Candidate's track record", Candidate's web site, June 15, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-11-12.
^ "Right-Wing Agenda Will Obscure our Most-Pressing Issues", Tucson Citizen (republished on candidate's web site), January 10, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-11-12.
^ "Flunkies — The Sierra Club grades the Arizona Legislature", Candidate's web site, June 12, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-11-12.
^ "Track Record", Candidate's web site, June 12, 2006. Retrieved on 2006-11-12.

[edit] External links

[edit] See also

United States general elections, 2006

United States House elections, 2006 (A separate article as of November 10)

United States congressional elections, 2006

Preceded by: Jim Kolbe (R)	United States Representative for the 8th Congressional District of Arizona 2007 (Scheduled)–	Succeeded by: Incumbent