While United States voters will soon be forced to choose between a recent convict and the man who has stood by as thousands of Gazans are left stranded, Mexico, meanwhile, has pulled out several electorate victories worth celebrating. On Sunday evening, CNN and other national outlets announced that climate scientist Claudia Sheinbaum was projected to win Mexico’s general election. The incoming leader’s triumph is notable for several reasons (which we’ll get into below), but mainly because Sheinbaum is set to become the country’s first-ever female president. That alone is more than the U.S. can say for itself at present.
“As I have said on other occasions, I do not arrive alone,” Sheinbaum told a crowd after her victory had been confirmed, according to the Associated Press. “We all arrived, with our heroines who gave us our homeland, with our mothers, our daughters, and our granddaughters.”
As Sheinbaum prepares to start her six-year term on October 1, here’s what we know about Mexico’s first woman president.
Who is Claudia Sheinbaum?
Mexico’s next president is both an academic and a politician, per the New York Times. The president-elect has a doctorate in energy engineering and has authored a number of academic papers in favor of transitioning the country from fossil-fuel energy to renewable sources such as wind, solar, and geothermal. According to CNN, she was born in Mexico City in 1962 and is the mother of two children. She met her partner, Jesús María Tarriba, at university while the duo were studying physics. He is currently a financial-risk specialist at the Bank of Mexico.
Before moving into politics, the daughter of activist academics pursued a teaching career, which included a place on the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. During that stint, she and the rest of the IPCC team shared a Nobel Peace Prize with former U.S. vice-president Al Gore for their work surrounding the climate crisis and education around fossil fuels. CBS has described the president-elect as a “lifelong leftist.”
And what’s her political background?
Sheinbaum’s political ambitions began in 2000 when Andrés Manuel López Obrador (now the outgoing president and Sheinbaum’s current mentor) appointed her the secretary of the environment for the federal district, a position she held for six years. In 2018, she was elected the first female head of government of Mexico City, overseeing a city of 23 million for which she erected more solar panels, expanded bike lanes, and transitioned to electric buses, according to the Times. She also reduced the city’s homicide rate by half. Since then, she has repeatedly vowed to continue the country on the path paved by Obrador, largely regarded as a leftist populist. As with Obrador, Sheinbaum is part of the Morena party, which is also projected to hold on to majorities in both chambers of Congress according to Reuters.
Sheinbaum has also stated that addressing economic inequality is of utmost importance to her and that she strongly believes the government should play a role in providing a social safety net for its citizens. During her campaign, she promised to expand pensions for the elderly as well as funding for youth scholarships. The president-elect is expected to continue addressing climate change, gender-based violence, and the cartels as she enters office.
Why is her win historic?
As previously mentioned, Sheinbaum is the first female president in Mexico’s 200-year history, which is especially momentous given the country’s dominant culture of machismo. This election also marked the first time that Mexico’s two main opponents were women (Sheinbaum ultimately defeated her rival Xóchitl Gálvez with an estimated 60 percent of the vote). Per CNN, Sunday’s estimates show this was the largest election in the country’s history, with more than 98 million voters registered. Cartel violence was a growing concern for many of those who turned up to the polls.
Sheinbaum also makes history as the first president of Jewish heritage to lead the mostly Catholic country.
What has the U.S. said about Sheinbaum’s victory?
Per CNN, President Biden released the following statement on Monday: “I congratulate Claudia Sheinbaum on her historic election as the first woman president of Mexico. I look forward to working closely with president-elect Sheinbaum in the spirit of partnership and friendship that reflects the enduring bonds between our two countries. I expressed our commitment to advancing the values and interests of both our nations to the benefit of our peoples. I also congratulate the Mexican people for conducting a nationwide successful democratic electoral process involving races for more than 20,000 positions at the local, state, and federal levels.”
