Gabrielle Giffords Reelection Bid Buzz After Return To Congress For Debt Ceiling Vote

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) made an emotional return to Congress Monday evening to vote on the debt ceiling deal. Her colleagues greeted her with a standing ovation, hugs, and cheers.

The sight of the congresswoman smiling on the House floor, smiling, waving, and greeting her colleagues by name seven months after she was shot in the head by a gunman in Tucscon, Ariz. has naturally sparked buzz about whether she will run for reelection next year.

On Tuesday, Giffords' close friend Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chair of the Democratic National Committee, said on MSNBC's “Morning Joe” that Giffords is continuing to focus on her recovery and is traveling back to Houston to continue her therapy, but that “We're certainly getting her ready to make sure she can run for reelection at the point they're ready to decide on that.”

“Her supporters in Arizona and across the country, her colleagues, are making sure she doesn't have to start from scratch when she makes that decision,” Wasserman Schultz said.