Giffords endorses Luján for U.S. Senate

U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján has received another big-name endorsement in his race for U.S. Senate: former Arizona congresswoman and current gun control advocate Gabby Giffords, a fellow Democrat.

Giffords, who retired from Congress after being shot and seriously injured at a public event in Tucson in 2011, started a political action committee and gun control advocacy group called Giffords: Courage to Fight Gun Violence.

In a statement, Giffords praised Luján’s “advocacy to address America’s gun violence crisis,” adding, “I am grateful for the leadership he showed in helping us take on and beat the NRA in the 2018 midterm elections as head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the subsequent historic passage of HR 8.”

She was referring to legislation that passed the House earlier this year that would require most people who buy guns, even in private transactions, to pass background checks.

Luján, in a statement, reiterated his support for “common sense gun safety legislation” and his desire to work with Giffords “to end senseless gun violence.”

Also running in the Democratic Senate primary are Secretary of State Maggie Toulouse Oliver and Giovanni Alexander Haqani, who ran for an Albuquerque seat in the New Mexico House of Representatives in 2016. The only declared Republican running is Gavin Clarkson of Las Cruces. Incumbent Sen. Tom Udall, a Democrat, announced this year he won’t seek reelection.