Abortion-rights group applauds Ron Barber win in Arizona

“He will stand up to those who seek to undermine a woman’s right to choose. His win reflects this district’s commitment to pro-choice policies.”

Barber served as Giffords’s district director and was wounded in the Jan. 8, 2011, shooting that killed six and wounded more than a dozen others. Giffords retired from office in order to recover from the head wound she sustained that day.

NARAL noted that it ran phone banks that made “nearly one thousand dials” promoting Barber and that the group’s political action committee contributed $5,000 to his campaign.

During the campaign, Republicans sought to tie Barber to President Obama while Democrats blasted the GOP candidate, Jesse Kelly, for taking a hard line against entitlement spending.