Mark Kelly hopes for more gun laws if Kamala Harris wins
Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona discussed gun violence and election interference at the Democratic Party Convention.
CHICAGO – U.S. Senator Mark Kelly of Arizona expressed his support for Vice President Kamala Harris in an interview with USA TODAY Tuesday at the Democratic National Convention.
Kelly was on the short list of possible candidates to run alongside Harris on the Democratic presidential ballot, facing former President and Republican nominee Donald Trump and his vice presidential running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio.
Here are three key takeaways from our exclusive conversation with Kelly:
Senator Mark Kelly knows Tim Walz through his wife
Senator Kelly said he considers Walz a friend he has known for a long time. They met in 2007 when his wife, former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, and Walz were both new members of the House of Representatives. Giffords represented southern Arizona and Walz was the Congressman for southern Minnesota.
“He’s a great choice. He’s a veteran who served 24 years in the Army National Guard. I spent about the same amount of time in the Navy,” Kelly said. “He’s a coach and a teacher, I believe he’s been a member of the House for six terms, was governor for two terms, a very experienced guy and I think he’s a great choice for this.”
Kelly is a former NASA astronaut and served as a fighter pilot in the Navy before running for office in Arizona. He retired from NASA after his wife, former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, was seriously injured in a shooting in Tucson in 2011, after which she endured a long but remarkable recovery.
The senator was on a shortlist of top Democratic candidates being considered for the office, and he won two statewide elections in the battleground state of Arizona starting in 2020.
Shooting destroys family plans
Kelly and Giffords revealed how the January 8, 2011, shooting in Tucson that left them and 18 others injured derailed the couple’s plans to have a child together. In June, they wrote an essay for People magazine detailing how they tried to have a child through artificial insemination.
“Gabby and I wanted to have a baby. She was scheduled for IVF on a Monday, but she was shot on a Saturday. That was the end of it for us,” Kelly said.
The Arizona senator railed against Trump and Republicans for their commitment to restricting access to reproductive rights, including IVF and contraception. Abortion access has also become a winning issue for Democrats since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.
“If given the opportunity, he will further tighten his restrictions on women’s reproductive rights.”
In November, voters in Arizona and nearly half a dozen other states will decide whether to enshrine access in their state constitutions.
Advocating for sensible gun legislation
Senator Kelly is a strong supporter of common sense gun laws. After the 2011 shooting, he and Giffords formed an advocacy group named after the former congresswoman to advocate for gun control.
He praised the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which President Joe Biden signed in June 2022, making it the first comprehensive gun control law in 28 years. The bill received bipartisan support in Congress. It expanded background checks and funded state red flag laws, among other things.
Kelly said such legislation would not be possible under a Trump presidency.
“With Kamala Harris in the White House, we have the opportunity to enforce universal background checks and finally do something about semi-automatic weapons that are truly designed for use in war and not for people to just carry on the street,” he added.
