Giffords, a former Arizona congresswoman, was one of 18 people shot by a mentally disturbed gunman a Tuscon political event in 2011.
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The two pointed to Kirk and Toomey’s break with their party in support of a failed 2012 universal background check bill as a key moment in earning their endorsement.
In a statement, Toomey said he was honored by the endorsement and committed to “bridging the partisan divide” to close the terrorist loophole, expand background checks to gun shows and online sales, and fund research into gun violence. Pat Toomey, R-Pa. also facing a tough bid to keep his job. Pat Toomey in his neck-and-neck race against Democratic challenger Katie McGinty.
After running successfully as a fiscal hawk in 2010’s huge Republican midterm wave election, Toomey’s re-election campaign kicked off by touting his efforts to work across the aisle, including on gun control, a strategy aimed at winning over Pennsylvania’s large swing bloc of independent voters, conservative Democrats and moderate Republicans. But this did not gain either democrat an endorsement.
“I look forward to introducing a bill next Congress that works to achieve these ends”, the statement added.
Independence USA PAC, founded by former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, endorsed Toomey earlier this month, as did Erica Smegielski, the daughter of the Sandy Hook Elementary School principal who was killed in that shooting.
McGinty isn’t running from Toomey on national security issues; rather, she returns the criticism, for instance for opposing Democrats’ budget legislation that carried more aid for community policing programs. GOP leaders did not allow a vote on a proposed compromise bill Toomey drafted in June, and he sided with Democrats on another proposed compromise sponsored by Sen.
Toomey, who is now locked in a competitive reelection race, touted the group’s endorsement.
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Toomey campaign spokesman Ted Kwong said Toomey was dealing with other important issues when absent, such as meeting with Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on the debt ceiling crisis and attending a Finance Committee mark-up session on “major Medicare legislation”, both in 2013. Republican leaders in the senate have adamantly said they will not hold nomination hearings for Obama’s choice to fill the late Justice Antonin Scalia’s seat on the high court.
