Tucson Weekly Endorses Gabrielle Giffords for Congress

BY THE TUCSON WEEKLY EDITORIAL BOARD

Democrat Gabrielle Giffords has always struck us as smart, hard-working and genuine. Since she was elected to the Arizona Legislature in 2000, she’s learned to navigate the rough-and-tumble world of legislative politics and play a good game of defense in a GOP-dominated body. If Congress remains under Republican control in November, that experience will serve her well.

Giffords’ environmental record is solid; just last year, the Sierra Club–which has endorsed her in this race–named her an all-star lawmaker for her opposition to lousy legislation. She’s firmly pro-choice, having earned a 100 percent rating from Planned Parenthood. And we’re delighted to see that she got a zero on the scorecard of the right-wing religious cabal known as the Center for Arizona Policy.

We’re not the only ones who have been impressed by her. With more than $800,000 raised since getting into the race, Giffords has shown she’s got support from here to Washington, D.C. She’s been endorsed by more than 15 unions, including the AFL-CIO, the Arizona Education Association, the Arizona Police Association, the Professional Fire Fighters of Arizona, AZCOPS, AFSCME and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Local 99. She’s got the support of EMILY’s List, the Human Rights Campaign and Congressman Raul Grijalva.

In short, Gabrielle Giffords is backed by all the right people. We’re happy to add our voice to theirs.

That’s not to say that there aren’t other good candidates in the race. Former newscaster Patty Weiss looks good on the stump and would make a formidable candidate going into the general election. And Jeff Latas, the anti-war Air Force vet, has a lot of great ideas.

But with the candidates so close on the issues, we’re going with the one we know the best. Vote for Gabrielle Giffords in the Democratic primary.