Kimberly Mata-Rubio has spent a long year navigating “our country’s political system” since her daughter was killed in the Uvalde, Texas school shooting. Now, she’s trying to change that system locally by running for mayor.
Mata-Rubio, 34, lost her 10-year-old daughter Lexi to gun violence last year. The advertising executive with the Uvalde Leader News described her daughter as a leader and as motivation for her to throw her name into the race.
“I want to make a difference. I want to honor her with action. I want to make sure that the world remembers her, and Lexi was a leader. She would have made a difference in the world and she deserves to still do that,” Mata-Rubio said. “She just needs my help now.”
“After the fracture in the community, it’s been devastating, and it’s just getting worse,” Mata-Rubio continued. “And I really want to be part of the difference in our community, bringing people back together.”
As the incidence of mass shootings grows around the country, so are the number of people directly affected by those shootings running for office. The highest-profile one may be Sen. Mark Kelly, the Arizona Democrat whose wife, former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, was shot at a constituent event in 2011. One of Giffords’ interns, Daniel Hernandez, was injured and later won a seat in the Arizona state legislature.
The Uvalde mayoral election is set for Nov. 7, and the winner will serve for a year. The current mayor, Don McLaughlin is giving up his spot to run for the Texas state legislature.
“I’ve been calling for accountability and transparency locally,” Mata-Rubio said, and “just decided that you know, let’s work from the ground up, start making a difference here in my own hometown.”
Republican presidential candidate, Rep. Will Hurd is the former congressman of Uvalde, although he was not in office during the shooting. He penned an op-ed for the New York Times last year explaining that the focus should be on mental health when it comes to gun violence.
Mata-Rubio, who has called for an assault weapons ban and participated in a sit-in outside the U.S. Capitol demanding a ban, agreed with that sentiment — but added, “It’s not something that you can fix overnight, and one difference you can make to save lives is gun legislation — like we have to have something.”
When asked if she would run for a longer-term next year, Mata Rubio said she would “want to see how the first year goes.”
“I don’t think you can get too much done in the first year,” she continued. “My focus would be really bringing the community together so that we can start making steps in the right direction. So absolutely. After that, consider running again.”