Former Rep. Giffords makes Twitter appeal for Ron Barber

Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords returned to Twitter on Friday, after a two month hiatus, to request votes for her birthday.

Giffords is campaigning on behalf of Ron Barber, a former Democratic aide who is running in the special election to replace her, representing Arizona in Congress. Giffords personally asked Barber to run, and made a personal appeal on Friday asking her supporters to help put him in Congress as a “great gift” to Giffords.

Thank you for the birthday wishes. A great gift would be seeing @RonBarberAZ in Congress. Join me tomorrow in Tucson! on.fb.me/LtEkqu

— Gabrielle Giffords (@GabbyGiffords) June 8, 2012

The tweet also advertises a get-out-the-vote rally planned for Saturday, three days before the June 12 special election to replace her, where Giffords will appear with Barber for the first time since he announced he would run.

Giffords has made few public appearances since being shot in the head at a campaign event in her district in January 2011. She officially resigned from Congress in January of this year, and has only tweeted once at her official account since then.

Josh Lederman contributed.

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