Claudia Sheinbaum: New President of Mexico’s Election Victory in 3 Charts

Claudia Sheinbaum has secured the Mexican presidency in a landslide victory to become the country’s first female president in its over 200-year history.

The 61-year-old former climate scientist will succeed incumbent president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, also of the left-wing Morena party, who has held the office since 2018.

Newsweek has mapped Sheinbaum’s victory in three charts.

Exit Polls Predict a Landslide

Preliminary results from collected by Mexico’s National Electoral Institute (Instituto Nacional Electoral) put Sheinbaum firmly ahead of her main rival, Bertha Xóchitl Gálvez Ruíz.

Sheinbaum was projected to secure around 58 percent of the vote, from a voter turnout of 60 percent. Ruíz and third-place candidate Jorge Álvarez Máynez were expected to win just under 29 percent and around 10 percent respectively.

“Thank you today to the people of Mexico, this is your triumph, this June 2 we made history again,” Sheinbaum posted to X (formerly Twitter) following the news.

Newsweek has contacted Sheinbaum for comment.

Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s Enduring Popularity

Sheinbaum’s electoral success may also have been down to the popularity of the outgoing Obrador.

El Financiero polls conducted at the start of 2023 and 2024 show that he maintained fairly consistent approval ratings, despite ongoing challenges facing the Latin American country, particularly cartel violence.

According to the findings, Obrador won 54 percent public approval in 2023, a figure that carried over into 2024.

His disapproval ratings over the same period did slightly increase however, rising one percent from 45 to 46 percent.

“Today is a day of glory because the people of Mexico freely and democratically decided that Claudia Sheinbaum will become the first woman president in 200 years of independent life of our Republic,” Obrador said following the news of Sheinbaum’s win.

“Congratulations to all of us wo are fortunate enough to live in these stellar times of pride and transformation,” he added.

Economic growth

Mexico’s economy bounced back after the COVID-19 pandemic, sustaining a GDP growth of more than three percent since 2021, better than pre-pandemic levels, according to data from the World Bank.

This economic performance coincides with the signing in 2020 of USMCA, a major trade pact between the U.S., Mexico and Canada, which will be up for renewal in 2026.

In 1995, Sheinbaum earned a PhD in energy engineering at the Lawrence Berkely National Laboratory in California.

Previously in the Party of the Democratic Revolution, she has been a member of the Morena party since 2014.

Her former posts include Secretary of the Environment of Mexico City, Mayor of Tlalpan and Head of Government of Mexico City.

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