Mexico Elects Its 1st Female President as Claudia Sheinbaum Wins in a Massive Landslide

It has been a historic day in Mexico as scientist and former Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum won the 2024 election and is now the country's first-ever female president. She will inherit the gains of the Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador administration, as well as the lingering problems such as the drug war and various other issues.

"I promise that I am not going to let you down," she told supporters during her victory speech in the Zocalo, Mexico City's iconic colonial-era main plaza. Sheinbaum was the candidate for Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador's party and many still see her as the "status quo" candidate and is set to offer more or less of the same as her predecessor.

According to the Associated Press, she won with a massive landslide as she received between 58.3% and 60.7% of the vote. Meanwhile, her nearest rival, Xochitl Galvez, only received between 26.6% and 28.6% of the vote. Galvez had been gaining on Sheinbaum in the polls, but with the voting already done, it was too late.

As she made her victory speech, Sheinbaum confirmed that her two closest competitors, Galvez and Jorge Alvarez Maynez, who was in distant third, have already called her and conceded. Alvarez Maynez only won between 9.9% and 10.8% of the vote.

"As I have said on other occasions, I do not arrive alone," Sheinbaum added. "We all arrived, with our heroines who gave us our homeland, with our mothers, our daughters, and our granddaughters."

In addition, her MORENA Party is also expected to retain the majority in both chambers of Mexico's Congress. She also became the first Jewish president of the overwhelmingly-Catholic Mexico, in addition to becoming its first female president.

Mexico President-Elect Claudia Sheinbaum To Inherit Country's Problems Under AMLO

With a majority in Congress, Sheinbaum is expected to have a very strong mandate for the presidency and a wide room to maneuver. Any significant challenge to her might come from her own party, as MORENA's radicals and moderates jockey for power. Of course, there is also the problem of organized crime groups.

Americas Quarterly noted that her relationship with the private sector and her dialogue with the US are expected to be some of her biggest challenges. Internationally, she is also seen to have a favorable stance towards Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, and Russia while also trying to maintain that tumultuous relationship with its #1 trading partner, the US.

Still, the problem of the drug cartels and immigrants going through Mexico in hopes of getting into the US remain some of her most pressing problems, as well as the issue of femicide that has plagued the country for years.

Climate Scientists Happy With Claudia Sheinbaum Winning the Mexico Presidential Election

One group who is very happy to see Sheinbaum win are climate scientists, as she is one herself and she has been a very strong advocate for clean energy, often deviating from AMLO in the issue.

While the science world applauds the election of a scientist as the leader of the world's 14th largest economy, several of her fellow Mexican climate scientists and political analysts have admitted that they are skeptical whether she will deliver on her green promises because of her ties to AMLO, who is an advocate of traditional sources of energy, according to Climate Change News.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

WATCH: Mexico elects Claudia Sheinbaum as its first woman president - MSNBC