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Barber Leads for Giffords’s Seat

Special election held Tuesday.

Voters will go to the polls in Arizona for a special election for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords’s seat, as an independent poll found Democrat Ron Barber holding a 12-point lead. Barber, a former aide to Giffords, is being challenged by Tea Party–backed Republican Jesse Kelly, who launched a bid Monday to try to bring out right-leaning voters by appearing on a popular conservative talk-radio show. Around 35 percent of voters in the district have already cast their ballots, and both candidates planned last-minute efforts to woo undecided voters on Tuesday. Giffords resigned in January, one year after almost being killed in a shooting attack that claimed the lives of six and injured 13. Giffords, who now lives in Texas, flew out for several events over the weekend supporting Barber. Kelly nearly defeated Giffords in a heated 2010 race.