Colleagues Raise Campaign Funds for Giffords
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and several other Democratic lawmakers attended a fundraiser Tuesday night for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords that collected more than $125,000, according to a Democratic lobbyist who was at the event.
Nearly 150 people gathered at the Teamsters union’s headquarters in Washington, D.C., to raise contributions for a potential re-election campaign for the Arizona Democrat. Giffords was critically injured in a shooting attack in January that killed six people, and she is recovering in a Houston hospital.
Other lawmakers who attended the event included House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), House Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larson (Conn.), Caucus Vice Chairman Xavier Becerra (Calif.), Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.), Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.), Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.).
Smith, Wasserman Schultz, Pelosi and Gillibrand spoke at the gathering, as did Pia Carusone, Giffords’ chief of staff. All attendees were given a small cactus and a blue bracelet in honor of the lawmaker.