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From first female mayor to first female president: Claudia Sheinbaum is Mexico’s new leader
Mexico has elected Claudia Sheinbaum as its first female president after a historic landslide victory on Sunday.
Presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum, of the ''Sigamos Haciendo Historia'' coalition, shows her inked fingerprint after casting her vote during the presidential elections at Alcaldia Tlalpan in Mexico City, Mexico, on Sunday. Photo Credit: Hector Vivas/Getty Images
Mexico has elected Claudia Sheinbaum as its first female president after a historic landslide victory on Sunday.
According to preliminary results from the country’s electoral body, the 61-year-old climate scientist secured between 58% and 60% of the total votes cast.
The landslide win places Sheinbaum in a comfortable lead of about 30 percentage points against her main rival Xóchitl Gálvez, who is a businesswoman. In Mexico, women now hold half the seats in congress, close to half of the cabinet jobs and one-third of the governorships. Whilst Latin American countries have had female presidents, Sheinbaum is elected woman to lead a North American country.
Claudia Sheinbaum, who has served as the former mayor of Mexico City, is set to replace President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on October 1, 2024.
In a victory speech to supporters and the country, Claudia Sheinbaum pledged to advance the good works of the outgoing President.
She also told the people of Mexico, “I won’t fail you.”
Following the results from Sunday’s election, supporters of Claudia Sheinbaum have taken to the streets to celebrate the victory, which many say is a new dawn for Mexico.
According to the BBC, Ms. Sheinbaum’s maternal grandparents are of Jewish descent and migrated to Mexico from Bulgaria after fleeing the Nazis. Her paternal grandparents, however, hail from Lithuania.
She started her career as a scientist before venturing into politics, where she served as the first female Mayor of Mexico City after being elected in 2018 until she resigned in 2023 to run for president.
Sheinbaum then studied physics before going on to receive a doctorate in energy engineering. She worked for several years at a research lab in California studying Mexican energy consumption patterns and later became an expert on climate change.
Claudia Sheinbaum, who was also a student activist, became the secretary of the environment for Mexico City at the time when Andrés Manuel López Obrador was the mayor of Mexico.
