1970 Born June 8 to Spencer J. Giffords, El Campo Tire executive and former Tanque Verde Governing Board member, and Gloria Fraser Giffords, an art conservator and author.
1988 Graduated from University High School.
1993 Graduated with a bachelor's degree in sociology and Latin American affairs from Scripps College in Claremont, Calif.
1996 Earned master's in regional planning from Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.
1996 Fulbright Scholar in Chihuahua, Mexico.
1996 Fellow, Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government.
1996 Worked as associate for regional economic development at Price Waterhouse in New York.
1996 Became president and CEO of El Campo Tire Warehouses. The local chain was founded by her grandfather.
2000 Oversaw the sale of the company to Goodyear Tire.
2000 Elected to Arizona House of Representatives.
2002 Became the youngest woman ever elected to the Arizona Senate.
2004 Re-elected to Arizona Senate.
2005 Resigned on Dec. 1 to run for Congress.
2006 Elected U.S. representative for Congressional District 8 in November; became Arizona's first Jewish congresswoman.
2007 Married Navy Capt. and astronaut Mark E. Kelly on Nov. 10 . The wedding party included Kelly's daughters, Claire and Claudia, and Giffords' sister Melissa.
2008 Re-elected to Congress in November .
2009 Three raucous health-care town-hall meetings, all of which drew overflow crowds, with a total of about 4,000 attending. Giffords was booed and heckled at forums in Sierra Vista and Tucson. At the Tucson forum, Giffords had to remind the crowd several times to be respectful of others. At one point, she asked hecklers to "be a little less rude."
2010 Window of Tucson office shattered in March after the federal health-care vote.
2010 Re-elected in November.
