Giffords might start ‘Gabby PAC’

Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) isn’t planning a return to Congress just yet, but she is considering starting her own PAC.

Giffords and her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, hosted a reception in Washington on Tuesday to thank friends and donors for their support, The Huffington Post reported.

{mosads}”We’ve got a few things that we’re planning on working on — those issues she cares about, but also helping her friends,” Kelly said. “And that includes — we haven’t quite figured this out — but at some point it might include an organization called Gabby PAC.”

Giffords has kept a low profile since resigning from the House in January, one year after a shooting spree in her district left her critically wounded and killed six people.

She was honored in April at a fundraiser for EMILY’s List, a PAC that supports Democratic women who favor abortion rights. But other than the fundraiser, her political activity has been limited to the special election to replace her. Giffords endorsed Democrat Ron Barber, her former district director, and will headline a rally for his campaign on Saturday in Tucson, Ariz.

The cache of good will she has built up in the year and a half since the shooting could be put to good use by Democrats across the country — especially if Giffords were to form a fundraising committee to back Democratic candidates.

“Gabby really wants to make a difference,” Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.), a close friend of Giffords, told The Huffington Post. “We know because she’s not in Congress anymore she has to find other ways to do that. There’s a lot of different ways she can have an impact. One of the ways is through a voter PAC.”