She will be Mexico’s first female president. But who is Claudia Sheinbaum?

CNN

By Kathleen Magramo, Karol Suarez and Tara John, CNN

(CNN) — Claudia Sheinbaum, known as ‘la Doctora’ for her stellar academic credentials, is a physicist with a PhD in energy engineering, the former mayor of one of the most populous cities in the world, and was part of the United Nations panel of climate scientists that received a Nobel Peace Prize award.

And on Sunday she became the first woman, and the first of Jewish descent, to be elected president of Mexico.

Sheinbaum won about 60% of the vote in the largest election in Mexico’s history, a historic achievement in a predominantly Catholic country known for its deeply patriarchal culture.

The 61-year-old will replace outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, her longtime ally whose social welfare programs have lifted many Mexicans out of poverty, making their left-wing Morena party a favorite in the polls.

“It is and remains our duty to care for every Mexican without discrimination,” Sheinbaum said in a speech early Monday morning. “Even though many Mexicans do not fully agree with our project, we must walk in peace and harmony to continue building a fair and more prosperous Mexico.”

After her maternal grandparents emigrated from Europe to escape the Holocaust, Sheinbaum was born in Mexico City in 1962—a city she would serve in various roles for decades.

During her undergraduate degree at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), she became immersed in student politics and protested the privatization of public education. After graduation, she studied energy engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, where she became fluent in English and earned a master’s degree, before returning to UNAM for doctoral studies.

Sheinbaum entered politics in 2000, when she was appointed Mexico City’s environment minister by Obrador, then head of the city’s government.

After leaving this role in 2006, Sheinbaum focused on the study of energy, joining the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and becoming part of the team that received the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.

In 2015, she became the first female head of Mexico City’s Tlalpan district, where she served until 2017. The following year, she was elected head of the city-wide government – ​​again the first woman to do so – and resigned. in June 2023 to run for president.

Sheinbaum has two children and one grandchild. Her partner, Jesús María Tarriba, whom she met in college while they were both studying physics, is a financial risk specialist at the Bank of Mexico.

What challenges lie ahead?

If the constitution had allowed it, Mexico would probably have re-elected Obrador, one of those rare politicians who – like JDR and JFK – is known simply by his initials AMLO. After riding the wave of AMLO’s popularity, some have wondered whether Sheinbaum will be able to distance herself sufficiently from her longtime ally.

One of Sheinbaum’s biographers, journalist Jorge Zepeda, has argued that once in power, Sheinbaum will likely unfold her own platform gradually: she will first act as “the leader’s faithful disciple,” before offering “a glimpse” of her own program will provide. where we ensure that no instability arises in the base of the movement.

But Zepeda has also noted clear differences between the two leaders. In an article for the Spanish daily El Pais, Zepeda recalled asking Sheinbaum what sets her apart from other politicians. “I’m a person who makes decisions based on the data,” she told him.

Zepeda, on the other hand, claimed that Obrador could sacrifice data for party loyalty. “If (one piece of) data gets in the way, another piece is chosen,” he said, adding that Sheinbaum is guided by science.

Obrador will leave office with widespread support and an impressive record of alleviating poverty, but his premiership was marred by his ‘hugs, no bullets’ policy of not confronting cartels, fueling violence could continue to develop further.

Violence has played a major role in these elections, the bloodiest in Mexico’s history. Dozens of political candidates and job applicants have been murdered by criminal organizations trying to influence those who came to power.

Mexico’s murder rate is among the highest in the world and more than 100,000 people are still missing in the country. It also remains a dangerous place to be a woman, with femicide rates skyrocketing in the region – with figures showing around ten women are murdered every day.

Sheinbaum will have to act quickly when it comes to organized crime and security issues in Mexico, said Will Freeman, a Latin American studies fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

“It is mind-boggling that the ruling party could win re-election by a landslide as it appears…given the sweeping violence it appears that the opposition did not appear to have made many more credible proposals about what they were going to do,” Freeman said.

Sheinbaum brings a team from her time as mayor of Mexico City that has a proven track record of improving safety, but it remains to be seen whether she can replicate that on a national scale, Freeman said.

US-Mexico relations

Both Mexico and the US will hold elections in 2024, something that happens only once every 12 years – and it comes at a time of transition in the relationship between the two countries.

Sheinbaum will take office just a month before Americans go to the polls in November, where immigration is a top issue in the vote for Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

Mexico is a key US ally on a range of issues, from trade to cracking down on drug trafficking and controlling migration. Current and former U.S. officials have often described the relationship between President Joe Biden and Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador as friendly and professional — and expect a productive relationship with Mexico’s next president.

But Mexico’s elections also come at a crucial time for the Biden administration.

In recent months, the U.S. has relied heavily on Mexico to step up immigration enforcement and help stem the flow of migration to the U.S. southern border. The elections in Mexico have left some Biden officials unsure about what, if anything, will change with a key partner when it comes to border cooperation.

One of the considerations in rolling out a new border executive action was to do so after Mexico’s elections. The government will likely need buy-in and help from Mexico to implement the order.

Officials expect that a new administration in Mexico will likely continue to work with the U.S. on migration, given years of cooperation, but it is unclear how migrants — and especially smugglers — might plan their next steps in a moment of government transition.

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CNN’s Priscilla Alvarez, Rey Rodríguez, Laura Paddison, Jack Guy, Fidel Gutiérrez, Krupskaia Alís, Aditi Sangal, Karen Esquivel and Carmen Sánchez contributed to reporting.