Uvalde families make last push for shakeup on Election Day

UVALDE, Texas — Just hours after voting started in Texas, Kimberly Rubio cast her ballot in the same Uvalde city building where she waited in May to learn that her daughter, Lexi, was one of 19 fourth-graders fatally shot at Robb Elementary School.

“If our children aren’t safe, neither are your jobs,” Rubio said as she walked out of her polling place with an “I voted” sticker. Nearby, another woman waved a “Don’t tread on me” flag.

The deadliest classroom shooting in Texas history has cast a long shadow in the midterm elections, intensifying Republican Gov. Greg Abbott ‘s campaign against Democrat Beto O’Rourke and driving a blitz of television ads.

On Thursday, a Republican congressman joined calls for Texas’ state police chief to resign, reflecting continued anger five months after the massacre.

But with more than 1 million votes already cast in Texas, Uvalde families who have been most outspoken since the May 24 attack are facing an uphill climb for bigger shakeups on Election Day, including a change in governor.

Abbott, who has waved off calls to tighten Texas gun laws since the shooting, has never trailed in polls. He is also seizing on national headwinds facing Democrats, who are in danger of losing control of the U.S. House, which could scuttle the chances of tougher gun laws at the federal level for the next two years.

Democrats have hoped outrage in Texas over the latest in a grim series of mass shootings would rouse voters to the polls.

Through Thursday, turnout was so far lower than 2018 levels in the state’s largest counties, which also have the heaviest concentration of Democratic votes.

Another week of early voting is still ahead.

“We’re still in a very Second Amendment friendly state,” said Matt Langston, a Republican political strategist in Texas, where many residents proudly tout their constitutional right to bear arms.

School safety is still an issue for voters, he said. “But it doesn’t necessarily translate to, ‘Let’s tighten gun restrictions.’ It appears that it is more, ‘We’ve got to protect where we’re sending our kids.’ It’s kind of a nuanced response,” Langston said.

Republican Rep. Tony Gonzales, whose South Texas district includes Uvalde, became the first major GOP figure this week to call for the resignation of the state’s police chief over the hesitant law enforcement response and shifting narratives from authorities.

Families of the victims have kept pressure on Col. Steve McCraw, the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, who said Thursday that his police force “did not fail” Uvalde. Two officers have been fired, others are under investigation, and Uvalde’s school superintendent abruptly announced his retirement this month.