Giffords Endorses Dean Phillips for Congress in Minnesota

 The endorsement comes as part of Giffords’ #VoteCourage Campaign to elect gun reform candidates nationwide 

March 21, 2018 – Giffords, the gun safety organization founded by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and Captain Mark Kelly, announced its endorsement of Dean Phillips, candidate for Minnesota’s 3rd congressional district. Phillips is one of 13 candidates Giffords endorsed today as part of its #VoteCourage campaign to elect gun safety champions.

Dean Phillips is a philanthropist, entrepreneur, and Gold Star son who was previously the CEO of Phillips Distilling Company. He was driven to run by a deep dissatisfaction with the administration’s ties to powerful interest groups, and considers gun violence a public safety crisis. Phillips supports background checks, closing the gun show loophole, and barring people on the no-fly list from purchasing guns.

Last month, Giffords launched the #VoteCourage campaign aimed at electing gun safety advocates to Congress and defeating politicians who have historically worked against gun reform, or done nothing at all to prevent gun violence. The political program is targeting incumbents in mostly suburban districts and uses a mixture of TV and digital advertising, on-the-ground organizing, and a voter registration push to create momentum for meaningful progress on gun safety.

The mass shooting at Parkland, Florida crystallized the country’s frustration with the lack of action to pass gun safety laws. Currently, the country is averaging nearly 34,000 deaths from guns every year, and recent polling shows that support for stronger gun laws is at an all-time high.

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 Giffords is a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving lives from gun violence. Led by former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and her husband, Navy combat veteran and retired NASA astronaut Captain Mark Kelly, Giffords inspires the courage of people from all walks of life to make America safer.