Nearly one-third of spending by Giffords's pro-gun control group went to help former aide In Arizona's 2nd congressional district, incumbent Rep. Ron Barber (D) trails Republican Martha McSally by about 1,300 votes -- 0.7 percent of the total. It's possible that Barber will be able to make up the difference, as there are thousands of uncounted ballots still to be considered, including over 40,000 in Pima County, where Barber leads by 3.4 percent. Barber, you're probably aware, won election to the seat after its previous representative, Gabby Giffords, resigned in 2012. As district director for Giffords, Barber was wounded in the same 2011 Tucson attack that severely wounded Giffords and killed six other people. Giffords understandably endorsed Barber in 2012 for the special election to fill out her term and when he ran for a full term that November. Earlier this year, Giffords endorsed Barber in a TV spot in which she directly addresses the camera. That ad was paid for by Americans for Responsible Solutions, the PAC Giffords and husband Mark Kelly formed this election cycle to bolster candidates who support gun control. In the standard way of advocacy organizations, Americans for Responsible Solutions celebrated its 2014 electoral victories in a blog post on Thursday. It had a hand in Gov. Dan Malloy's (D) victory in Connecticut, the group says, and Gov. John Hickenlooper's (D) in Colorado. It backed the Senate bids of incumbent Jeanne Shaheen (D) in New Hampshire and newcomer Gary Peters (D) in Michigan, and the House reelection of Michael Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.). But no candidate received more support from Americans for Responsible Solutions than Ron Barber. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the group has spent $6.9 million in the 2014 cycle, $2 million of it for Democrats and $4.2 million against Republicans. Of that money, $238,000 went to support Ron Barber -- and $1.8 million went to oppose McSally. In total, nearly a third of all of the group's outside spending went to bolster Barber. Peters, meanwhile, won his Senate race easily, and ARS only put in $15,000 for "radio in the Detroit media market in the final week of the campaign," according to the blog post. Shaheen squeaked out a victory in her reelection bid. ARS' $130,000 was a small part of the $14.7 million spent to support Shaheen or oppose Scott Brown (R). The group didn't spend any money on outside efforts for Malloy or against his opponent, according to records. Most political races are decisive enough that small things don't make much difference -- Fitzpatrick, one of two Republicans that ARS backed, received $375,000 from the group, won by 23 points, and the radio spots in Michigan landed after Peters was clearly going to win -- but in the close race in AZ-02, ARS could make the deciding difference. Barber's reelection was always going to be an uphill fight, and the Democratic Party would clearly be happy to hold his seat. He pushed for funding for treating mental health as a way to address gun violence. It makes sense as a priority for ARS, and Barber makes sense as the recipient of an endorsement. The overlap of ARS spending with Giffords' old seat and old ally is, in a generous formulation, a coincidence. For Barber, a happy one. This article has been corrected.