Mexico Elects First Female President

MEXICO— Mexico has elected its first female president in the country’s 200-year history, Claudia Sheinbaum.

Sheinbaum, who is a leftist and a member of the Morena party, is also a climate scientist and most recently, the Mayor of Mexico City. She earned a Ph.D. in energy engineering from the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

Sheinbaum will replace her mentor, outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, when her 6-year term begins on October 1st of this year.

As a physicist, Sheinbaum was on the 2007 United Nations climate scientist panel that received a Nobel Peace Prize.

In another historic first, Sheinbaum will be the first politician with a Jewish background to lead the overwhelmingly Catholic country. Her grandparents immigrated to Mexico from Bulgaria and Lithuania.

Sheinbaum won the election in a landslide, with nearly 60% of the vote. Her opponent, Xóchitl Gálvez, received the second highest number of votes at around 28%.

What do you think of Sheinbaum’s victory?