Former Rep. Gabby Giffords, who was grievously injured in a shooting at a constituent event in 2011, endorsed Joe Biden for president at the virtual Democratic National Convention.
“He was there for me, and he’ll be there for you, too,” Giffords said.
Giffords was shot in the head by Jared Lee Loughner in her Tuscon, Arizona, district, while she was holding a “Congress on your corner” event. Six people died in the shooting.
Giffords required extensive rehabilitation and resigned from Congress in 2012. She told viewers of the virtual convention her recovery was very difficult.
“When confronted by despair, I summoned hope, confronted by paralysis, I responded with grit and determination,” Giffords said. “I put one foot in front of the other. I found one word, and then I found another.”
But Giffords said she still struggles.
“Words once came easily. Today, I struggle to speak. But I have not lost my voice.”
Giffords urged viewers to “vote” and “be on the right side of history.”
Giffords’s husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly, is running as a Democrat for the U.S. Senate seat in Arizona.
“We must elect Joe Biden,” Giffords said. “He was there for me, and he’ll be there for you, too. Join us in this fight.”
