A Uvalde mother who has pushed for tougher gun laws after her daughter was among the 19 children killed in the Robb Elementary School attack is on the ballot Tuesday in a bid to become mayor of the South Texas town, which was left divided by one of America’s deadliest mass shootings. Kimberly Mata-Rubio, 34, would become Uvalde’s first female mayor and has talked about charting a new direction for the town of 15,000 residents, where differences persist over how to move forward from the tragedy.
Running against Mata-Rubio are Cody Smith, a former Uvalde mayor who left office in 2012, and Veronica Martinez, a local elementary school teacher. This is the first mayoral election in Uvalde since the May 24, 2022, shooting. The gunman carried out the attack in a fourth-grade classroom with an AR-style rifle, a weapon Mata-Rubio has called on lawmakers to ban in the wake of losing her daughter, 10-year-old Lexi. Two teachers were also killed in the shooting.