Mexico has made history by electing Claudia Sheinbaum as its first female president.
In a landslide victory on Sunday’s election, Claudia Sheinbaum emerged triumphant, becoming the first woman to lead Mexico in its 200 years of history. According to the official rapid count projections from the National Electoral Institute (INE), Sheinbaum secured a commanding 58.3% to 60.7% of the vote. This placed her significantly ahead of her main competitor, Xóchitl Gálvez, who garnered between 26.6% and 28.6% of the votes.
“I do not arrive alone. We all arrive. With the heroines who gave us our homeland, our ancestors, our mothers, our daughters, and our granddaughters,” Sheinbaum declared, celebrating her groundbreaking victory as the first female president in two centuries of Mexican history.
Sheinbaum, representing the ruling left-wing Morena party, mentioned that Gálvez, the leader of an opposition coalition, had contacted her to concede and offer congratulations. “Now is the moment to put behind us the bitterness of the campaign,” acknowledged Gálvez, who had previously questioned Sheinbaum’s potential victory before the official results were announced.
With a voter turnout of 61%, Sheinbaum’s triumph is not only historic due to her gender but also because of the substantial support she received. Her vote share surpasses that of her political ally, current President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), who won with 53% in 2018.
Sheinbaum also celebrated the strong possibility of her party achieving a supermajority in both houses of Congress. This would grant her a level of governmental power that López Obrador, despite his popularity, did not possess during his term.
“Today is a day of glory because the people of Mexico freely and democratically decided that Claudia Sheinbaum should become the first woman president in 200 years of independent life of our Republic. Congratulations to all of us who have the joy of living in these stellar times of pride and transformation,” AMLO posted on X.
Image alt text: Claudia Sheinbaum addressing supporters after winning the Mexican presidential election, becoming the first female president of Mexico.
Image alt text: Xóchitl Gálvez, the opposition candidate, conceding defeat in the Mexican presidential election to Claudia Sheinbaum.
Sheinbaum’s Platform and Priorities
Sheinbaum, 61, former Mayor of Mexico City, pledges to continue the legacy of the current president but with her “own stamp.” Her key priorities include tackling violence linked to organized crime, stimulating the economy, promoting renewable energy, and combating corruption.
Throughout the campaign, polls consistently indicated a significant lead for Sheinbaum, a scientist by training, over her closest contender, Gálvez. Gálvez, a 61-year-old businesswoman, represented an opposition coalition consisting of the once-dominant PRI, the right-leaning PAN, and the leftist PRC.
Sheinbaum had urged her supporters to not be complacent and to “fill” the ballot boxes, aiming to secure a two-thirds majority in both congressional chambers. This supermajority would empower her to enact constitutional reforms that López Obrador was unable to achieve.
Who is Claudia Sheinbaum, Mexico’s First Woman President?
Image alt text: Supporters of Claudia Sheinbaum celebrating her victory as the first female president of Mexico.
The president-elect has a distinguished career as a scientist. She holds a degree in Physics and a PhD in Environmental Engineering.
Born to scientist parents, she inherited not only their academic inclination but also their political engagement, as both were left-wing activists. “In my house, politics was discussed at breakfast, lunch, and dinner,” she recounts in a biography written by Arturo Cano.
“That duality between doing politics to transform the world and, at the same time, this academic, scientific sense, is where I grew up,” Sheinbaum stated in a documentary about her life, presented last year and directed by her son.
Sheinbaum was born on June 24, 1962, in Mexico City, into a family of Jewish heritage. Her paternal grandfather immigrated to Mexico from Lithuania in the 1920s, and her maternal family fled Nazism from Bulgaria.
At the age of 15, she became involved with the movement of mothers searching for their children disappeared by the state, led by Rosario Ibarra, a renowned human rights activist and leftist politician who was the first woman to run for president in Mexico in 1982.
After graduating with a Physics degree in 1989 from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), she pursued a master’s and then a doctoral degree at the same institution.
During her doctoral studies, she undertook a scholarship-funded academic residency at the University of California.
Her formal political career began in 2000.
A friend connected her with López Obrador, who was about to assume office as Mayor of Mexico City in December of that year. López Obrador was seeking a left-leaning scientist to assist with the environmental challenges in the capital. She accepted the position of Secretary of the Environment.
She held this post until 2006 when she became the spokesperson for López Obrador’s presidential campaign that year. In 2007, she was part of a group of experts from the UN awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts in disseminating knowledge about climate change.
In 2018, she became the first woman elected Mayor of the capital in the same elections that saw AMLO, in his third attempt, win the presidency.
Sheinbaum’s Victory and the Challenges Ahead
Image alt text: Claudia Sheinbaum speaking about the challenges and opportunities facing Mexico as its first female president.
The former Mayor presented her tenure in Mexico City as a key credential, a common stepping stone to the presidency.
During her time as Mayor, she focused on educational policies and reducing insecurity, which will now be a major challenge as she governs the entire country, as well as addressing pollution in one of Latin America’s largest cities.
However, Sheinbaum also benefited significantly from López Obrador’s high popularity. The current president enjoys a 60% approval rating after a six-year term marked by a positive economic climate, low unemployment, and a historic reduction in poverty.
Sheinbaum’s results on Sunday were even more impressive than AMLO’s.
“First the poor” is a defining phrase for AMLO, who promised what he termed the “Fourth Transformation” of the country. He now hopes this transformation will deepen under Sheinbaum’s leadership, having endorsed her as his successor.
Sheinbaum promises continuity but aims to imprint her “own stamp” with some differing objectives, such as placing greater emphasis on energy policies and combating climate change in a country facing up to 11 femicides daily.
Beyond insecurity, other challenges include the economy, with a demanding fiscal situation due to increased pension payments and social programs initiated by AMLO.
The new president, who will begin her six-year term on October 1st, will also face complex negotiations with the United States regarding migrant flows across Mexico and cooperation on drug trafficking.
These negotiations could become even more complicated if Donald Trump wins the presidential election in November.
What is certain is that Mexico has elected Sheinbaum, the first female president in the country’s history.
And she will assume office with potentially more power than AMLO, as projections suggest she may have a qualified two-thirds majority in both houses of Congress, granting her a “super-government.”
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