Kimberly Mata-Rubio, whose daughter was one of the students killed in the Robb Elementary School shooting, spoke Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
Lexi Rubio was killed on May 24, 2022, when an armed gunman brandishing an AR-15-style rifle entered the school and killed 19 children and two teachers.
That morning, Mata-Rubio said her daughter was honored for getting all A's. “She wears a St. Mary’s sweatshirt and a smile that lights up the room,” she told the crowd. “Thirty minutes later, a gunman murders her 18 classmates and two teachers. We are taken to a room where police tell us she isn’t coming home.”
The Uvalde community is still deeply divided over accountability for the law enforcement response to the shooting — 376 officers waited more than an hour to confront the gunman. Two officers face charges of child endangerment and abandonment.
"Uvalde is national news. Parents everywhere reach for their children," Rubio said. "I reach out for the daughter I will never hold again."
Uvalde mother Kimberly Mata-Rubio at tonight's DNC. pic.twitter.com/7byDNS4BuB
— Kayla Padilla (@KaylaPadilla__) August 23, 2024
Mata-Rubio appeared alongside four others who lost loved ones from gun violence and promised to push for gun reform. They included U.S. Rep. Lucy McBath (D-GA), Abbey Clements of Newtown, Connecticut, Melody McFadden of Charleston, South Carolina, and Edgar Vilchez of Chicago, Illinois.
"Our losses do not weaken us. They strengthen our resolve. We will secure safer futures that we all deserve. We will organize. We will advocate. We will run for office," said McBath, whose son Jordan Davis, was killed in 2012.
Mata-Rubio has been an advocate for gun reform in the wake of the shooting, speaking before lawmakers in Texas and Washington D.C.
In 2023, Mata-Rubio unsuccessfully ran for mayor of Uvalde after the incumbent stepped down to run for a seat in the Texas Legislature. She has since continued her advocacy efforts.
Vice President Kamala Harris — who supports universal background checks, an assault weapons ban, and red flag laws — accepted the nomination for the presidency at the end of Wednesday night's convention.
