In a historic moment for Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum was elected as the country’s first woman president by a landslide on Sunday, June 2, 2024. Her victory was celebrated by crowds of flag-waving supporters who sang and danced to mariachi music in Mexico City’s main square, reveling in the achievement of the ruling party candidate.
‘I want to thank millions of Mexican women and men who decided to vote for us on this historic day,’ Sheinbaum said in a victory speech to the cheering crowd. ‘I won’t fail you,’ the 61-year-old former Mexico City mayor vowed.
According to a rapid sample count by Mexico’s electoral authority, Sheinbaum, a climate scientist and former mayor of Mexico City, won the presidency with between 58.3% and 60.7% of the vote. That is set to be the highest vote percentage in Mexico’s democratic history.
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The ruling coalition was also on track for a possible two-thirds super majority in both houses of Congress, which would allow the coalition to pass constitutional reforms without opposition support, according to the range of results given by the electoral authority.
Opposition candidate Xochitl Galvez conceded defeat after preliminary results showed her taking between 26.6% and 28.6% of the vote.
A Transformation for Women’s Rights?
For many Mexican women, Sheinbaum’s election represented a long-awaited breakthrough in a country plagued by rampant criminal and gender-based violence, where around 10 women or girls are murdered every day. As they flocked to polling stations across the Latin American nation, despite sporadic violence in areas terrorized by ultra-violent drug cartels, they cheered the prospect of a woman breaking the highest political glass ceiling.
‘A female president will be a transformation for this country, and we hope she does more for women,’ said Clemencia Hernandez, a 55-year-old cleaner in Mexico City. ‘Many women are subjugated by their partners. They’re not allowed to leave home to work.’
Daniela Perez, 30, echoed the sentiment, stating that having a woman president would be ‘something historic even though neither of the two main candidates was totally feminist in her view. “We’ll have to see their positions on improving women’s rights, resolving the issue of femicides — which have gone crazy — supporting women more,” added the logistics company manager.
Nearly 100 million people were registered to vote in Mexico, the world’s most populous Spanish-speaking country with 129 million residents.
Claudia Sheinbaum’s popularity is largely due to outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, her leftist mentor with over 60 percent approval, who is limited to one term.
Reina Balbuena, a 50-year-old street food vendor, supported Sheinbaum because the Morena party ‘has given a lot of support to older adults and children.’
Continuing the ‘Hugs not Bullets’ Strategy
Sheinbaum owes much of her popularity to the outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, a fellow leftist and mentor with an approval rating of more than 60 percent but only allowed to serve one term. Lopez Obrador congratulated his ally with ‘all my affection and respect,’ noting that as well as being the first woman to lead Mexico, “she is also the president with possibly the most votes obtained in the history of our country.”
Sheinbaum has pledged to continue Lopez Obrador’s controversial ‘hugs not bullets’ strategy of tackling crime at its roots, while her rival Galvez vowed a tougher approach to cartel-related violence, declaring ‘Hugs for criminals are over.’
US Relations
In a nation where politics, crime, and corruption are closely entangled, and drug cartels went to extreme lengths to ensure their preferred candidates won, Sheinbaum faces daunting challenges. Hours before polls opened, a local candidate was murdered in a violent western state, authorities said, joining at least 25 other political hopefuls killed this election season, according to official figures. In the central Mexican state of Puebla, two people died after unknown persons attacked polling stations to steal papers. At the same time, voting was suspended in two municipalities in the southern state of Chiapas due to violence.
Sheinbaum will also have to manage delicate relations with the neighboring United States, particularly regarding the vexed issues of cross-border drug smuggling and migration.
As well as choosing a new president, Mexicans voted for members of Congress, several state governors, and myriad local officials – a total of more than 20,000 positions.
Who is Claudia Sheinbaum?
Claudia Sheinbaum (born June 24, 1962, Mexico City, Mexico) is a politician and environmental engineer best known for being Mexico City’s first female mayor. Her rise to the presidency in 2024 as a candidate for the National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) party marked another historic first – she became Mexico’s first elected woman president.
Sheinbaum is renowned for her scientific research and policy advocacy on energy efficiency, sustainability, and the environment. She was one of the scientists and policymakers who shared the 2007 Nobel Prize for Peace for their work on the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Early Life and Education
Sheinbaum is the second daughter of Annie Pardo Cemo, a biologist and professor emeritus at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and Carlos Sheinbaum, a chemical engineer. After her childhood in Mexico City, she studied physics at UNAM before pursuing master’s and doctorate degrees in energy engineering. Her doctoral research at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory compared energy consumption trends in Mexico and other industrialized nations.
Political Activism and Rise
Politically active since her student days, Sheinbaum helped found the Revolutionary Democratic Party in 1998. In 2000, she was appointed Mexico City’s environmental minister by Mayor Andrés Manuel López Obrador, overseeing projects like the Metrobus system and Periférico beltway expansion.
After López Obrador’s 2006 presidential bid failed, Sheinbaum returned to academia, contributing to IPCC climate reports that earned her a share of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
Elected Tlalpan borough mayor in 2015, Sheinbaum stressed water rights. Though criticized over infrastructure issues like the deadly 2017 earthquake impacts, her political rise continued. In 2018, she became Mexico City’s first elected female mayor with 50% of the vote.
Xochitl Galvez: The challenger
Xochitl Galvez, a successful businesswoman of Indigenous origin and senator from the state of Hidalgo, is running for the opposition alliance Strength and Heart for Mexico (Fuerza y Corazon por Mexico), which includes the conservative PAN, center-right PRI, and left-wing PRD parties. Unlike Sheinbaum, Galvez is seen as charismatic and approachable, often described as a woman of the people who until recently still rode her bike around Mexico City. Pre-election polls showed Sheinbaum leading with around 55% of the vote to Galvez’s 30%.
As mayor, Sheinbaum prioritized public transit, environment and modernizing the long-neglected subway system, though deadly accidents persisted despite reforms.
