The Hill News

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) will sit among her fellow lawmakers at Tuesday’s State of the Union as one of her final acts as a member of Congress, her office announced Monday.

Her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, will also attend the speech as a guest of First Lady Michelle Obama.

Giffords will sit between Reps. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) and Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.). According to Giffords’ office, Flake and Grijalva sat by an open seat reserved for the congresswoman at last year’s speech.

Her seating choice throws her support behind the show bipartisanship demonstrated by members of Congress sitting with members of the opposite party for the speech. Many members of Congress broke with the tradition to sit divided by party for the president’s annual speech to a joint session last year, and are encouraging the trend to continue this year. Giffords was given as one reason for the symbolic show of unity during last year’s speech, which! took place not long after Giffords’s shooting.

Giffords was shot in the head at a constituent event near Tucson last January. She announced on Sunday that she will step down from Congress this week in order to focus on her recovery, putting an end to speculation that she could run for her state’s open Senate seat. She likely would have faced Flake, who is running for the Senate seat, in the general election.