Gabby Giffords and husband Sen. Mark Kelly, in DNC speeches, praise Harris and warn of threat posed by Trump

Former Rep. Gabby Giffords, who was shot in the head in 2011, in a speech at the Democratic convention on its final night, said Vice President Kamala Harris “can beat the gun lobby.” 

Giffords, who was elected to Congress in 2006, appeared to have a bright future in the Democratic Party when she was shot in the head and nearly killed during a meet-and-greet with her constituents at a Tucson, Arizona, supermarket in January 2011. Six people died and more than a dozen were injured in the rampage. 

“For five years, I served in Congress from a swing district,” she said. “Everybody called me a rising star.” The day she was shot, she said was “a terrible, terrible day.”

A year after the shooting, she resigned from Congress to focus on her recovery. But in the years since has become a fierce advocate for gun reform. For years, she has struggled with her speech, and on Thursday night showed she’s made dramatic progress.

“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,” Giffords said. 

She thanked President Biden for checking in on her over the years since the shooting, calling him a “decent man.” She also praised Harris as “tough” and having “grit.”  

“Kamala can beat the gun lobby,” Giffords said. 

Thursday’s program also featured other victims of gun violence, including a teacher who survived the Sandy Hook massacre and the mother of a student who died in the Uvalde school shooting.

Giffords was accompanied by her husband, Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona, who also made remarks after a performance by Pink. 

“President Obama had to follow Michelle. I had to follow Gabby and Pink,” he joked. 

He said his wife, who has aphasia and has struggled to talk, amazes him every day. 

“She was able to walk out and address you tonight because she’s a fighter,” he said, before shifting to foreign policy and national security issues. 

He said Russia, Iran, North Korea and China are closely watching the U.S. and accused Trump of “sucking up to dictators and dreaming of becoming one himself.” He said the “world laughs at Trump” and the threats against the U.S. are too serious to elect him again. 

Kelly praised Harris for supporting U.S. troops and veterans, NATO, Ukraine and defending free and fair elections. 

“You already know how Trump feels about those,” Kelly said, mentioning negative remarks that the former president allegedly made about service members. 

In 2020, Kelly made his entry into politics, running for the Senate to complete the late John McCain’s term. Kelly, a former astronaut, flipped the seat in the historically red state, giving Democrats both Arizona Senate seats for the first time in nearly 70 years. 

Kelly, who ran as a moderate, was reelected in 2022. 

He was among the candidates Vice President Kamala Harris was considering to be her running mate, before she settled on Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz. Kelly’s name was also mentioned as a potential replacement for President Biden as he faced increasing pressure to withdraw from the race.