Martha McSally: Gabby Giffords House Seat Won By Pro Gun Air Force Vet
Retired Air Force Colonel and gun-rights supporter Martha McSally has been declared the winner of the Arizona House seat in the Tuscon area formerly held by Rep. Gabby Giffords, thereby flipping the Second Congressional District from Democrat to Republican.
The election went to a recount (see video below), and officials announced today that McSally — who was ahead on Election Day by 161 votes — prevailed by just 167 votes. McSally’s win give the GOP its largest majority (247 seats) in the U.S. House of Representatives since 1928.
Giffords was shot in the head in January 2011 at a constituent meeting by an assailant who killed six people in the rampage. She resigned from Congress a year later owing to her injuries. A key aide to Giffords, Ron Barber, won the seat in a special election and then narrowly defeated McSally in 2012, setting up this year’s rematch. Barber was also wounded in the attack. The shooter was subsequently sentenced to life imprisonment after pleading guilty to multiple counts of murder and attempted murder.
“Giffords’ gun-control group, Americans for Responsible Solutions, spent more than $2 million on Barber’s behalf” in this election, Politico reported.
In September, a McSally campaign official described the colonel as pro Second Amendment (the right to keep and bear arms) “and believes our focus for preventing shootings should be on strengthening our mental health system and enforcing background check laws already on the books, not expanding those laws that will do little to prevent violence and infringe on the rights of law-abiding citizens.”
McSally had already started attending orientation sessions on Capitol Hill before the recount was finalized and has secured appointments to the Armed Services Committee and the Homeland Security Committee.
With 26 years in the Air Force on her resume, she is the first female fighter pilot to fly in combat and the first to command a fighter squadron. “McSally retired from the Air Force as a colonel in 2010. She earned a master’s degree from the U.S. Air War College, focused on national security, as well as a master’s from Harvard University. She was deployed multiple times to the Middle East and Afghanistan and led oversight of counter-terrorism missions in Africa,” USA Today detailed.
Her campaign focused on issues including balancing the budget, growing the economy and jobs, reforming Obamacare, securing the southern border, and maintaining a strong national defense.
In a statement, Congresswoman-elect McSally said that “There’s no getting around that this was an incredibly close and hard-fought race. After what’s been a long campaign season, it’s time to come together and heal our community. That’s why my focus will be on what unites us, not what divides us, such as providing better economic opportunity for our families and ensuring our country and community are kept safe.”
[image credit: Gage Skidmore]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqYA3Y5LRiE
