Father: Spencer Giffords, El Campo Tire executive and a district school board member
Mother: Gloria Kay (Fraser) Giffords, an author and art conservator
Marriage: Mark Edward Kelly (November 10, 2007-present)
Children: Claudia and Claire (stepdaughters)
Education: Scripps College, B.A., 1993; Cornell University, Masters in Regional Planning, 1996
Religion: Jewish
Other Facts
Studied abroad in Chihuahua, Mexico, on a Fulbright Scholarship.
Was the youngest woman elected to the Arizona State Senate, at the time.
Third woman from Arizona to serve in the US House of Representatives.
Timeline
2000 – Sells her family’s tire business, El Campo Tire Warehouses, to Goodyear Tire.
2000 – Is elected to the Arizona House of Representatives.
2002 – Is elected to the Arizona State Senate.
2004 – Wins reelection to the Arizona Senate.
December 2005 – Resigns from office to run for the US House of Representatives.
November 7, 2006 – Is elected to the US House of Representatives with 54% of the vote.
2007-January 25, 2012 – Democratic US Representative from Arizona’s 8th District.
2008 – Is elected for a second term in the US House of Representatives with 55% of the vote.
2010 – Is elected for a third term in the US House of Representatives in a close race, by about 4,000 votes.
January 16, 2011 – Her medical condition is changed from critical to serious following the removal of a breathing tube. A tracheotomy tube is put in its place.
January 21, 2011 – Is moved from University Medical Center in Tucson to Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center in Houston, Texas.
January 26, 2011 – Is transferred to the nearby Texas Institute for Rehabilitation and Research Memorial Hermann (TIRR Memorial Hermann), the day after doctors upgrade her condition from serious to good.
April 25, 2011 – Doctors announce that Giffords has recovered enough to travel to Florida to attend the final lift-off on April 29 of the Space Shuttle Endeavour, of which her husband, Capt. Kelly, is the commander. She is able to use her left side, has limited use of her right arm and leg, and has begun walking a little.
May 16, 2011 – Giffords attends the rescheduled launch of Space Shuttle Endeavour at the Kennedy Space Center.
June 15, 2011 – Is discharged from Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center.
August 1, 2011 – Returns to the floor of the House of Representatives to vote in support of a plan to raise the US debt ceiling.
November 14, 2011 – Appears on ABC News in her first television interview since the shooting.
November 15, 2011 – A memoir written by Giffords and Kelly, “Gabby: A Story of Courage and Hope,” is published. In the audio book version, Rep. Giffords reads aloud the final chapter.
January 22, 2012 – Announces via her website, she will resign from the US House of Representatives to concentrate on her health and recuperation.
February 10, 2012 – Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus announces that the next Independence variant littoral combat ship (LCS) will be named USS Gabrielle Giffords.
June 9, 2012 – Giffords appears at a get-out-the-vote rally at the Rialto Theater in Tucson, Arizona, to campaign for Ron Barber, her former aide who is running for her congressional seat.
March 16, 2016 – The Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, founded in 1993 after an assault weapons massacre in San Francisco, becomes part of the organization Americans for Responsible Solutions, created by Giffords and Kelly.
May 2017 – Giffords and her husband’s book “Enough: Our Fight to Keep America Safe from Gun Violence” is published.
October 2017 – Americans for Responsible Solutions, the website launched by Giffords and her husband in 2013, is renamed “Giffords.”
