MEXICO — Claudia Sheinbaum made history on Sunday as the first woman elected president of Mexico, according to projections from the nation’s official quick count.
Sheinbaum won between 58.3% and 60.7% of the vote, according to an announcement from Guadalupe Taddei Zavala of Mexico’s National Electoral Institute.
“For the first time in 200 years of our republic, I will become the first woman president, Sheinbaum told supporters at a victory celebation. “But as I’ve said in other occasions, I don’t make it alone. We’ve all made it, with our heroines who gave us our homeland, with our mothers, our daughters and our granddaughters.”
Sheinbaum said she would support the freedom of free expression and protest and build a “diverse and democratic” Mexico.
Outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador congratulated Sheinbaum in a video statement.
“I congratulate Claudia Sheinbaum, who came out as the victor, with a wide margin. It will be the first female president of Mexico in 200 years,” he said.
“The president [Sheinbaum] possibly got the most votes in our country’s history,” he added.
Sheinbaum, 61, is a physicist and climate scientist and will be Mexico’s first president of Jewish heritage and will begin her term on October 1.
While the election was historic, it was also marred by violence at polling places.
Querétaro State Police said in a statement on X on Sunday night that 19 people were arrested “for causing damage to ballot boxes in polling stations to affect the development of election day, in addition to offer handouts.”
Sheinbaum is largely expected to follow in the footsteps of her mentor, López Obrador. She has promised to keep welfare policies and social programs that have helped Morena retain a solid approval rating from voters in place.
As a member of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Sheinbaum is among the scientists who shared a 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for their report.
