Former Rep. Giffords, who was shot by a gunman while she attended an event in her Arizona congressional district in 2011, endorsed former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland while Hamill is backing Cincinnati City Councilman P.G. Sittenfeld.
Strickland and Sittenfeld hope to unseat Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, in November, as does Cincinnati businesswoman Kelli Prather, a third Democrat in the March 15 primary.
Sittenfeld has been critical in his attacks on Strickland’s stances on guns, saying Strickland’s prior strong rating with the gun rights group the National Rifle Association indicates he will not seek further gun control measures if elected to the Senate. While Strickland has said he had a change of heart on the gun issue after the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, which took the lives of 20 school children and six adults, Sittenfeld earlier this year released an audiotape of Strickland, interviewed by Ann Fisher on Ohio Public Radio, that occurred in March 2015.
“I was the guy who voted against the assault weapons ban,” Strickland said in the interview, adding, “ I will put my record up against anyone’s record when it comes to defending the Second Amendment.”
In a statement, Giffords and her husband, former astronaut Mark Kelly called Strickland “the best person in this race to fight for the commonsense steps we need to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people and make Ohio’s communities safer.” They are the founders of Americans for Responsible Solutions, a gun violence prevention organization, which has also endorsed Strickland.
“We need more leaders like Governor Strickland — leaders who will protect the rights of law-abiding gun owners like us but who also have the courage to stand up to the gun lobby and stand up for common sense,” they said.
Hamill, who became famous for his portrayal of Luke Skywalker in the Star Wars series, endorsed Sittenfeld because of his stance on gun reform, saying he would be a “very forceful senator” on gun control.
Sittenfeld last month also received the endorsement of Jonathan Banks, the Emmy-nominated star of the TV show Breaking Bad.
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