Grieving Uvalde Mom Crushed After Community Helps Reelect Texas Gov. Greg Abbott
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For Kimberly Mata-Rubio, the Texas gubernatorial election was personal. Her daughter Alexandria Aniyah Rubio – "Lexi" — was just 10 years old when she was shot to death by a teenager who walked into her Uvalde, Texas, elementary school in May and went on a 90-minute rampage. Nineteen children and two teachers were killed.
Mata-Rubio, a local journalist, mother of six, who's married to a sheriff's deputy, had tried her best to gather support for Democrat Beto O'Rourke's gubernatorial campaign, believing he would at last enact sensible gun laws in the state. Finding out that Republican Gov. Greg Abbott — who had signed into law permitless carry and other loose gun measures — won reelection not only in state vote totals, but in Uvalde County, was crushing.
"I wanted to send a message but, instead, the state of Texas sent me a message: my daughter's murder wasn't enough," she tweeted Tuesday night. "Just know, you f----- with the wrong mom. It doesn't end tonight. I'll fight until I have nothing left to give. Lexi's legacy will be change."
RELATED: Uvalde County, Where Robb Elementary School Shooter Killed 21, Voted for Texas Gov. Greg Abbott
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The gunman was a loner who had legally purchased two AR-15-style rifles and ammo immediately after turning 18, the week before the mass killing. Grieving parents wanted answers about the bungled police response and what the state could do to stop future school shootings.
Abbott's challenger, Beto O'Rourke famously interrupted the governor's press conference the day after the shooting, telling the Republican governor, "you are doing nothing." O'Rourke also promised the families in Uvalde that if elected governor, he'd act on guns, and made the issue central to his campaign.
RELATED: Beto O'Rourke's Most Passionate Outbursts on the Campaign Trail
Just before the sole political debate between Abbott and O'Rourke, Mata-Rubio spoke for families of Robb Elementary School victims, giving their full support to O'Rourke.
"I'm speaking directly to moms when I say our babies' lives are on the ballot," she said. "It happened to me, it can happen to you. And this pain, it'll bring you to your knees."
The group felt let down by Abbott when he failed to raise the minimum age for buying an assault rifle from 18 to 21 after meeting with them. Instead, he continued pointing the finger at a mental health crisis — though the shooter, who died by the hands of police, had no diagnosed mental health issues.
The May 24 massacre was the deadliest school shooting in the state's history. President Joe Biden gave a speech at the White House, beseeching, "As a nation we have to ask, when in God's name are we going to stand up to the gun lobby?" He visited more than once to console grieving families.
Seated next to her husband, Mata-Rubio testified before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform on June 8th, pleading for stricter gun laws. "Somewhere out there, a mom is hearing our testimony and thinking to herself, 'I can't even imagine their pain,' not knowing that our reality will one day be hers, unless we act now."
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RELATED: Uvalde Families Plead for Congress to Strengthen Gun Laws: 'I Will Never Forget What I Saw That Day'
The first major federal gun legislation in decades was passed June 25th to expand background checks for purchasers between age 18 and 21, and other reforms.
Mata-Rubio also met former President Bill Clinton in Laredo days ago, before election results confirmed Abbott would stay in office. "He encouraged us to keep fighting for change. We assured him we will never stop fighting. We also asked him to thank Hillary for the letter she sent Lexi," she wrote on Twitter.
For this mom, five months have passed and the pain is still raw. Rubio's Facebook post on Halloween: "We don't want to do this without you. None of it. Not Halloween, not Christmas, not birthdays, not Mondays, not Fridays, not life. I realize this world isn't fair but why does it have to be so cruel?"
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