Rep. Gabrielle Giffords speaks with her chief of staff, Pia Carusone (left), and her husband, Mark Kelly, as she arrives to cast her final vote in Congress today. To roaring applause and steady tears, Giffords received a hero’s tribute on the House floor before officially stepping down from her Congressional seat.
“From my first steps and first words after being shot to my current physical and speech therapy, I have given all of myself to being able to walk back onto the House floor this year to represent Arizona’s 8th Congressional District,” the letter read by Wasserman Schultz said. “However, today I know that now is not the time. I have more work to do on my recovery before I can again serve in elected office.”
Giffords’ mother, Gloria, and husband, Mark Kelly, sat in the gallery to observe her final day in Congress. Interestingly, Kelly sat in President Barack Obama’s box on Tuesday night and Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) box today, marking the first time in recent memory that an individual has sat in those sections of the House gallery on consecutive days.
Boehner, who oversaw the proceedings from the chair, repeatedly choked back emotion during his colleague’s speeches, particularly Hoyer’s tribute to Giffords. But his stony resolve quickly collapsed when Giffords approached the dais. Helped up the steps by Wasserman Schultz, Giffords began to stumble as she reached the desk, and Boehner along with Giffords’ close friend, helped her to the top. After handing the tearful Speaker her resignation letter, the two briefly embraced. Boehner lifted Giffords’ hand up as the two turned toward the chamber to thunderous applause.
As a tribute on her final day in Congress, the House approved Giffords’ legislation to crack down on cross-border drug smuggling. The measure was approved 408-0 and marked Giffords’ first floor vote since she surprised colleagues by returning to Washington in August to vote on a deal to increase the nation’s debt limit.
An upcoming special election in Arizona’s 8th District to fill the vacancy has already drawn a handful of candidates, including Giffords’ 2010 GOP opponent, Jesse Kelly. Republicans and Democrats say Giffords would have cruised to re-election had she chosen to run, but her exit leaves open a competitive district.
No matter the outcome of that contest, Giffords vowed to return.
“In the end, we come together as Americans to set a course towards greatness,” she wrote in her resignation letter. “Every day I’m working hard. I will recover, and I will return.”
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