Best Of Tucson®

Best Public Servant

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords

For a teenage girl with her head in the clouds, 1984 was a formative year. Geraldine Ferraro became the first woman to run on a major-party presidential ticket, and the first women walked in space. With both ends of the inspirational spectrum available, 14-year-old University High School student Gabrielle Giffords opted to keep her feet on the ground, eventually becoming the youngest woman ever elected to the Arizona State Senate. Since then, she's tirelessly worked on immigration reform and solar-energy initiatives to earn two terms, so far, representing Southern Arizona's 8th Congressional District. But she's never stopped reaching for the stars: She married a NASA astronaut and chairs the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics. We loved her smack-down of TV personality Stephen Colbert with her NASA urine-recycling-room comment. You got nailed!

Runners up:

2. Rep. Raúl Grijalva

grijalva.house.gov

3. Mayor Bob Walkup

www.ci.tucson.az.us/mayor.html