How did Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly and Tim Walz become friends? You can thank Gabby Giffords

CHICAGO — U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona expressed his support for Vice President Kamala Harris during an interview with USA TODAY on Tuesday at the Democratic National Convention.

Kelly was on the short list of potential candidates to join Harris on the Democratic presidential ticket, running against former president and Republican nominee Donald Trump and his vice presidential pick, Sen. JD Vance of Ohio.

Here are three key takeaways from our exclusive conversation with Kelly:

Sen. Mark Kelly knows Tim Walz through his wife

Sen. Kelly said he considers Walz a friend he has known for a long time. They met in 2007 when his wife, former Congressman Gabby Giffords, and Walz were both freshmen lawmakers in the House. Giffords represented southern Arizona, and Walz was a congressman for southern Minnesota.

"He's a great pick. He's a veteran, serving in the Army National Guard for 24 years. I spent about the same amount of time in the Navy," Kelly said. "He's a coach and a teacher, member of the House for I think about six terms, two term governor, a very experienced guy, and I think a great, great pick for this.

Kelly is a former astronaut at NASA and served as a combat pilot in the Navy before running for office in Arizona. He retired from NASA after his wife, former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords, was severely injured in a 2011 shooting in Tucson resulting in a long but remarkable recovery.

The senator was on a short list of Democratic leaders considered for the position. He won two statewide races in battleground Arizona starting in 2020.

Family plans dashed by shooting

Kelly and Giffords revealed how the Jan. 8, 2011, shooting in Tucson that injured her and 18 others upended the couple's plans to have a child together. They penned an essay for People Magazine in June detailing how they tried to conceive through in-vitro fertilization.

"Gabby and I were trying to have a child, and she was scheduled to have IVF, the procedure on a Monday but she was shot on a Saturday. So that ended for us," Kelly said.

The Arizona senator railed against Trump and Republicans for their push to restrict access to reproductive rights, including IVF and contraception. Abortion access has also become a winning issue for Democrats since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022.

"If given the opportunity he wants to double down on his restriction on reproductive rights for women."

Voters in Arizona and nearly half a dozen other states will decide in November whether to enshrine access into their states' constitutions.

Advocate for sensible gun legislation

Sen. Kelly is an outspoken advocate for sensible gun legislation. In the aftermath of the 2011 shooting, he and Giffords established an advocacy group named after the former congresswoman to push for gun control.

He praised the passage of the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, which President Joe Biden signed into law in June 2022, becoming the first major gun control legislation passed in 28 years. The bill gained bipartisan support in Congress. It expanded background checks and funded state red flag laws, among other things.

Kelly said that type of legislation would not be possible under a Trump presidency.

"With Kamala Harris in the White House, we have an opportunity to pass universal background checks, finally do something on semi-automatic weapons that are really designed for combat in a war, not intended for people to just have in the streets," he added.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly speaks on Tim Walz' VP pick, abortion access