Gabrielle Giffords

U.S. House, AZ

Winning back a key swing seat. Gabrielle Giffords made headlines and history when she won the seat retiring Republican Rep. Jim Kolbe held for 22 years in Arizona’s eighth district. A staunch protector of a woman’s right to choose and a champion of working families, Giffords needs support from EMILY’s List members so she can deter eager GOP challenger Tim Bee in this key swing district.

Keeping campaign promises. Already, Giffords has started fulfilling her campaign promises by cosponsoring measures to raise the minimum wage, support alternative energy, and lower the cost of prescription drugs. Giffords’s early legislative actions also include banning lobbyists’ gifts to members of Congress and making college more affordable.

Wielding influence already. With positions on both the House Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees, Gabrielle Giffords has leverage over decisions being made about the war in Iraq -- and she has made it clear that she does not support the troop surge proposed by President Bush. While she tackles the challenge of turning our government around, her Republican opponent, a conservative, anti-choice state senator, is preparing to unseat her in 2008. Help EMILY’s List defend our Democratic majority by keeping this dynamic, newly elected woman in the U.S. House!

More About Gabrielle Giffords

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’s 2006 victory in Arizona’s eighth congressional district, a GOP-held open seat, helped clinch the Democratic takeover of the U.S. House. Now the GOP, anxious to regain its majority, has made defeating her a top priority.

Giffords won in 2006 by appealing to the moderate majority in this growing, Tucson-area district. Her opponent was an anti-choice, right-wing man whose views were far outside the mainstream. The dust had barely settled after election day when GOP leaders in Arizona and Washington began looking for a challenger.

Giffords isn’t letting Republican threats stop her from making her mark on Congress and at home. Her district, with its two military bases, will benefit from her position on the House Armed Services Committee. And her spot on the House Foreign Affairs Committee gives her a platform to influence the ongoing war against terrorism and act on her opposition to the planned Bush troop surge in Iraq. Giffords took to the House floor early in her tenure to speak out for common-sense immigration policy -- a high priority in this border state -- and helped pass the historic Democratic First 100 Hours agenda, including the first minimum wage increase in more than 10 years.

A Fulbright Scholar with a master's degree in regional planning, Giffords owns a commercial property management company and is the former president and CEO of her family's tire business. She won a seat in the Arizona House in 2000; in 2002, she became the youngest woman ever elected to the state Senate. She entered local politics dissatisfied with her state's health care and public education policies. "I don't come from a political background, but I did know how to walk," Giffords says of her first campaign, when she defeated five opponents in a Republican district. "I started knocking on doors and listening to my neighbors talk about what's important to them." This commitment to grassroots campaigning helped propel her to Congress -- and will be the linchpin of her re-election in 2008.

The Political Situation

This is a classic swing seat where the middle holds sway. Party registration is 39 percent Republican, 34 percent Democratic, and 26 percent independent; the Democratic performance (the percentage of general election voters who have historically voted Democratic) is 50.2 percent. Before he retired, moderate Republican Rep. Jim Kolbe repeatedly won re-election despite Democrats' best efforts to defeat him.

Republican leaders realize that their 2006 nominee's views on choice and immigration were far out of step with this electorate. This time they chose a stealthy conservative -- someone who is equally right wing but better at hiding it, state Senate President Tim Bee. According to Arizona GOP Chair Matt Salmon, Bee is "not a lightning rod. He's someone who's seen as a unifier." But Bee's voting record is far from unifying. He has consistently received failing grades from the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters for his opposition to environmental protections, while earning high scores from the NRA. Bee is vehemently anti-choice; he's been endorsed by Arizona Right to Life every year since winning office in 2000.

In 2006, Giffords was endorsed by law enforcement, choice and environmental advocates, and labor unions. She is a formidable fundraiser, but must refill her coffers early to give challengers pause before taking her on. Giffords must raise at least $2.5 million to win a second term and help House Democrats keep control.

The Issues

Giffords is a gifted leader whose work in Arizona helped expand privacy rights, protect environmental resources, strengthen laws against sex offenders, and preserve reproductive freedom. Though she operates on the principles of moderation and bipartisan cooperation, she is more than willing to face down opponents whose policies fail to advance the needs and concerns of working families.

"I am proud to be a part of the new Democratic majority, which is being led by the first woman Speaker of the House," Giffords says. "With passage of the First 100 Hours agenda, Democrats are already countering the conservative agenda that has dominated Washington for too long. I will work with my colleagues to promote the American values of inclusion, equality, and opportunity."

"A strong America needs strong public schools," Giffords says. "As Congress explores reauthorizing the No Child Left Behind Act, I am working with teachers, school board members, and education advocates to get their input on how it can be improved. We should focus on strategies with proven results: all-day kindergarten, early childhood education, small class sizes, and competitive teacher salaries and training." Giffords cosponsored and voted for the College Student Relief Act of 2007 to reduce interest rates on student loans.

To help families achieve balance, Giffords supports strengthening the Family Medical Leave Act; putting federal resources behind child care and after-school options; and building community networks for families caring for aged or disabled relatives.

"I support free trade, but it must be fair trade," Giffords says. Dismayed by measures like NAFTA and CAFTA that ignore worker and environmental protections, she will work to see that the U.S. uses its leverage to negotiate improvements.

A balanced budget is essential to the nation's long-term economic health. "We must stop saddling future generations with the bill for our irresponsible policies," Giffords says. "Tax cuts and increased spending are a recipe for disaster, particularly as we borrow from the central banks of growing economies in the Far East." Giffords supports a Clintonian approach to balancing the budget, including tax breaks for middle-class families to put the economy on stronger footing and mitigate the effects of future downturns.

"As a member of the Armed Services and Foreign Affairs committees, I am taking an active role in tackling the challenges of international policy that have resulted from the poor leadership of the Bush administration," says Giffords, who is working to ensure that Congress provides more oversight over Defense Department contracts and spending. "Defense spending should be held to the standards of good business practices, like evaluated planning, competitive bidding, strong oversight, and transparent contracts."

While at war, budget priorities should match the human needs of the military, such as adequate health care and training to help secure the safety of personnel on the front lines. "As we address the pressing foreign policy issues of our time -- confronting global terrorists, limiting Iran's nuclear ambitions -- the U.S. must lead the international community by building coalitions," Giffords says. She opposes the Bush administration's plan to raise troop levels in Iraq and will fight any efforts to establish permanent military bases there.

Giffords is working in Congress to ensure that all Americans are protected by the same civil liberties. "Nothing in the Constitution allows government to deny basic human rights based on race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation," she says.

Giffords' approach to deterring crime is twofold: give law enforcement officials the resources to do their job and fully fund early childhood education programs to prevent at-risk youth from committing crimes. "Our law enforcement officers need to have the basic equipment to adequately protect us," says Giffords, "which should include a federally sponsored universal communication network for all first responders." Giffords voted to implement the 9/11 Commission recommendations and is committed to increasing support for the Violence Against Women and Victims of Crime acts.

"Our country needs to have a robust debate over how to make sure that every American has health insurance," Giffords says. She supports allowing workers over the age of 50 to buy into Medicare and allowing small businesses to buy into state Medicaid programs. Covering more children under the Children's Health Insurance Plan also tops her agenda. "I am proud to have cosponsored a bill mandating that the federal government negotiate lower drug prices for senior citizens as part of Democratic efforts to fix Medicare Part D," she says.

"Poverty is a barrier to full participation in American life," says Giffords, who voted for passage of a minimum wage increase. Enhancing the Earned Income Tax Credit, subsidizing vocational education, and fully funding Pell Grants would allow low-income students to get an education and get out of poverty.

As a state legislator, Giffords was recognized by the Sierra Club, the Arizona Planning Association, and the League of Conservation Voters for her efforts to protect the environment. In Congress, she will fight to set a goal of 25 percent renewable energy consumption by 2025, including increased use of ethanol, wind, and solar energies. Giffords stood up to repeated efforts to restrict reproductive freedom in the Arizona legislature. She was the primary sponsor of a bill requiring hospitals and clinics to provide emergency contraception. "My record in the legislature is indicative of my priorities as a member of the House of Representatives," she says.