Friend,

Eleven years ago, during a normal Saturday morning in Tucson, Arizona, my life turned upside down. I was shot in the head. Six of my constituents were killed, and 13 more were injured. In the immediate aftermath, I experienced the darkest days of my life. I had to relearn to walk, speak, read and write.

I was devastated. My family was devastated. My community was devastated. But we were not broken. We got to work. 

Even in my recovery, I never stepped away from my life's purpose: working to make my community and country better. It's why I've now dedicated myself to lifesaving work to end gun violence.

When I think about everything I've overcome—and the progress we've already made, the lives we've saved through our work at Giffords PAC – I know it's only possible because we're in this together. Taking on the gun lobby, passing commonsense legislation, ending our gun violence crisis—none of it is something any one of us can do alone.

It's why we need champions for gun safety throughout our communities and across every level of government, particularly in the Senate, where so many lifesaving pieces of legislation have stalled. So today, I am reaching out to you personally about my friend Val Demings, who's running to be Florida's next senator and expand our gun safety majority in the Senate.

Congresswoman Demings passed gun safety legislation through the House even when the challenges seemed insurmountable, and she's the gun safety champion we need in the Senate. Marco Rubio is not. But Florida's last Senate race was decided by a little over 10,000 votes and the GOP is going all in on attack ads and spending millions in other investments to defeat Val Demings, which means she needs you and me to have her back to win. 

So today, I'm helping Val Demings raise $25,000 to defeat Marco Rubio and expand our Democratic Senate majority so we can pass much-needed gun violence prevention legislation. Will you chip in a donation to help her win?

Rush a donation of $5 or more now to elect Val Demings to the Senate, expand our Democratic Senate majority and make progress in the fight for gun safety.

For Congresswoman Demings, fighting gun violence is personal. During her 27 years of service on the Orlando Police Department—including as the first female chief of police – she witnessed far too many times the pain and grief caused by gun violence. Her own community was left scarred when 49 innocent lives were taken at Pulse nightclub in Orlando in 2016.

Rep. Demings and her community still mourn for those who were lost, and ever since coming to Congress in 2017, Rep. Demings has fought for the sort of progress that will save lives—from universal background checks to a ban on high-capacity magazines. I know that as the next U.S. senator for Florida, Val Demings will be instrumental in passing these commonsense, essential reforms into law.

But friend, it's no exaggeration to say that Rep. Demings is up against the entire GOP establishment. Republicans have already funneled tens of millions of dollars into Florida to permanently keep the state red, and Marco Rubio's had the best fundraising numbers of his entire career while the GOP continues to smash fundraising records. Val Demings can only win and expand our Democratic Senate majority with your grassroots support.

So please, before Congresswoman Demings' next big fundraising deadline at midnight tonight, will you chip in $5 or more to help her defeat Marco Rubio? Every dollar you give will ensure we can elect one of the biggest champions for gun safety to the U.S. Senate.

My very best,

Gabby Giffords