GOP picks businessman to vie for Giffords’s seat
Businessman Jesse Kelly, an Iraq War veteran and Tea Party favorite, will run against former Gabrielle Giffords aide Ron Barber.
Voters in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District this week chose businessman Jesse Kelly, an Iraq War veteran and Tea Party favorite, to run against former Gabrielle Giffords aide Ron Barber in a special election to replace the wounded ex-congresswoman. Kelly, who nearly defeated Giffords in 2010, will face Barber on June 12; the winner will hold the seat until the end of the year, but both men say they will run again in the general election in November. Giffords resigned on Jan. 25, about a year after she was shot in the head at a constituent meet-and-greet in Tucson, where six people were killed and 13 wounded, including Barber.
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