About 40 Highland Park residents packed a suburban living room Wednesday afternoon to brainstorm how they might help Kimberly Mata-Rubio win the race for mayor in Uvalde, Texas.
Stephanie Jacobs, 40, told the group that she and another gun control advocate had invited Mata-Rubio to Highland Park because “our community and Kim’s community are forever tied” through their experiences with mass firearm violence.
It had been 15 months since a mass shooting at the Highland Park Fourth of July parade killed seven people only weeks after a mass shooting at Uvalde’s Robb Elementary School killed 19 elementary schoolers, including Mata-Rubio’s daughter, Lexi.
Mata-Rubio, 34, is running for mayor in honor of her daughter. “None of us know exactly what (Mata-Rubio is) going through, but we share an awareness of what’s wrong with this country,” Jacobs said.
Mata-Rubio is one of three candidates in the race to finish out the term of current Mayor Don McLaughlin. McLaughlin announced he’d pursue a seat in the Texas House of Representatives earlier this year, according to the Texas Tribune.
Katherine Buitron, 39, attended the event to support Mata-Rubio as a longtime friend. Buitron lives in Chicago’s Portage Park neighborhood and said her first response when she heard that Mata-Rubio was bringing her campaign to Chicago and its suburbs had been to ask, “When am I picking you up?”
“There’s a connection between every single town that’s been affected by a shooting,” Buitron said. “It’s like a thread.”
Those who attended echoed the kinship between Uvalde and Highland Park. Many said that sense of connection was what brought them to see Mata-Rubio.
Nami Goldenberg, 43, said she was present with her children at the Highland Park shooting and attended the event at the invitation of a friend.
“I’m just in awe of a mom who can take her tragedy and turn it into working for a cause,” she said.
A small art installation featuring the names of the Highland Park shooting victims — with a rotary phone to call legislators and boxes of notes written to the victims — sat in one corner of the room where Mata-Rubio took questions and comments from the group.
She has two tattoos honoring her daughter, the second youngest of her five children: a portrait on the inside of her forearm and a drawing Lexi had made in 2019 on her shoulder. Lexi’s drawing depicted Mata-Rubio with rainbow hair, holding Lexi in her heart.
“Lexi’s legacy will be change,” she said. “This is the motivation I need.”
Many attendees asked how they could support her Texas candidacy.
Mata-Rubio said she and her campaign staff were prioritizing door-knocking and that they’d appreciate the help with that, but observed that Highland Park was a bit far for attendees to take part in that work. So the group turned to other ways they could support her campaign, including fundraising and spreading the word about her candidacy as the weeks tick down to Election Day.
One woman, a photographer, offered free family portraits to anybody who donated more than $200 to Mata-Rubio’s campaign. Another, a teacher and tutor, said she could offer free tutoring sessions to those who donated.
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Mata-Rubio said she thought her daughter would be proud of her run for mayor.
Lexi, 10, played softball and basketball, and had volleyball ambitions for when she got older. She looked up to politicians like U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Vice President Kamala Harris, Mata-Rubio said.
Jacobs said she first met Mata-Rubio while they were each lobbying for stricter gun control on Capitol Hill.
When she heard about Mata-Rubio’s campaign for mayor, Jacobs said she knew she wanted to support her candidacy however she could.
“Whatever she needs, we will do,” she said.
Uvalde’s special election is set for Nov. 7.
ckubzansky@chicagotribune.com
