Claudia Sheinbaum Elected Mexico's First Woman President

Mexico Elects Claudia Sheinbaum as Its First Woman President

An official quick count shows climate scientist Claudia Sheinbaum holds an irreversible lead in the race that will make her Mexico’s first female president.

Mexico's projected presidential winner, Claudia Sheinbaum, is set to become the first woman president in the country's 200-year history. The climate scientist and former Mexico City mayor announced Sunday night that her two competitors had conceded victory.

"I will become the first woman president of Mexico," Sheinbaum said with a smile, speaking at a downtown hotel shortly after electoral authorities confirmed her lead. "I don't make it alone. We've all made it, with our heroines who gave us our homeland, with our mothers, our daughters, and our granddaughters."

The National Electoral Institute's president stated that Sheinbaum had between 58.3% and 60.7% of the vote, based on a statistical sample. Opposition candidate Xóchitl Gálvez garnered between 26.6% and 28.6% of the vote, and Jorge Álvarez Máynez received between 9.9% and 10.8% of the vote.

The preliminary count, which started slowly, showed Sheinbaum leading by 27 points over Gálvez with 42% of polling place tallies counted shortly after her victory speech.

Sheinbaum, the governing party candidate, campaigned on continuing the political course set over the last six years by her political mentor, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

His chosen successor, the 61-year-old Sheinbaum, led the campaign wire-to-wire despite a spirited challenge from Gálvez. This election marked the first time in Mexico that the two main opponents were women.

Shortly before the electoral authorities' announcement, Gálvez wrote on the social platform X, "The votes are there. Don't let them hide them."

Sheinbaum is unlikely to enjoy the kind of unquestioning devotion that López Obrador has had. Both belong to the governing Morena party.

In Mexico City's main colonial-era plaza, the Zocalo, Sheinbaum's lead did not initially draw the same jubilant crowds that greeted López Obrador's victory in 2018.

Who Is Claudia Sheinbaum, the Cool-Headed Scientist Leading Mexico?

Claudia Sheinbaum, the former city mayor elected as Mexico’s first woman president, is an environmental scientist and dedicated leftist known for her calm demeanor during crises.

The granddaughter of Bulgarian and Lithuanian Jewish migrants, Sheinbaum is a close ally of outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Unlike her mentor, the 61-year-old is "not a populist," said Pamela Starr, a professor at the University of Southern California. "She is much more of a mainstream leftist politician" and likely to be "less ideological" than the outgoing president, she added.

Sheinbaum was born in Mexico City to parents involved in the political turmoil of the early 1960s when students and other activists sought to end the Institutional Revolutionary Party’s long grip on power.

"At home, we talked about politics morning, noon, and night," she said in a recent biography.

Guillermo Robles, a former classmate at the prestigious National Autonomous University of Mexico, remembers Sheinbaum as a serious student.