Claudia Sheinbaum projected to be Mexico’s first woman president

Mexico's President Andrés Manuel López Obrador attends a press conference after the general election in Mexico City, on June 3.

Mexico’s President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he will not influence newly elected president Claudia Sheinbaum in naming future officials for the country after Sunday’s landslide victory.

“She is going to choose her team,” he added.

However, he suggested that changes would come with the new president because it was part of the “transformation” he started for the country when he took office nearly six years ago.

López Obrador also said he may discuss constitutional reforms with Sheinbaum during the transition period but made it clear that he didn’t “want to impose anything.”

Sheinbaum will take office on October 1. Her term will last six years.

López Obrador, who is Sheinbaum’s political mentor, congratulated her on the win.

“We already spoke yesterday (Sunday); I congratulated her. I am very happy because imagine what it means to hand over the presidency to a woman after 200 years of only men ruling Mexico,” the president said.

The president said that once he hands over the presidential band, he plans to retire from political life entirely and will do so with “a lot of satisfaction.”

“Let it be heard loud and clear: after I finish my term in office, I will retire, and I will never again participate in any public or political act,” he said. 

US President Joe Biden speaks at the White House in Washington on May 31.

US President Joe Biden congratulated Claudia Sheinbaum on her historic presidential win as Mexico’s first woman to lead the country’s government.

“I look forward to working closely with President-elect Sheinbaum in the spirit of partnership and friendship that reflects the enduring bonds between our two countries,” he said in a statement Monday. “I expressed our commitment to advancing the values and interests of both our nations to the benefit of our peoples.”

Read Biden’s full statement:

A woman walks past a board showing currency exchange rates of the Mexican peso against the US dollar in Mexico City, on May 28.

The Mexican peso slipped roughly 3% against the US dollar Monday morning.

It comes after Claudia Sheinbaum’s projected landslide victory, which has raised concerns that the ruling Morena party will be able to pass more ambitious constitutional reforms, many of which had been sought by outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

“Sheinbaum is perceived as more of a technocrat than AMLO, and she also has a background in climate science. Both offer potential shifts in Mexican policy,” wrote Bespoke Investment Group researchers in a Monday note.

Claudia Sheinbaum waves to supporters in Mexico City on June 3.

Latin American leaders are celebrating Claudia Sheinbaum’s projected win as Mexico’s president with leaders referencing a common theme — that her appointment would hopefully see strengthened relationships between countries on the continent.

Sheinbaum will face several challenges, including security, organized crime, energy and immigration, and would also set the tone for the pivotal US-Mexico bilateral relationship. 

People queue to vote at a polling station in Colonia Libertad, near the US-Mexico border in Tijuana, Mexico, on June 2.

Sunday’s poll was the largest election in the country’s history. More than 98 million voters were registered to cast a ballot, and 1.4 million Mexicans were eligible to vote abroad.

In addition to the presidency, more than 20,000 positions were being contested by an estimated 70,000 candidates vying to become senators, mayors and governors.

But the elections were plagued by immense violence. There have been more than 20 political killings since September, according to the Mexican government. By some estimates though, that number is even higher. According to Mexican consultancy firm Integralia, at least 34 candidates were murdered in the run-up to the vote.

Voting was suspended for several hours on Sunday in the southeastern Mexican town of Coyomeapan due to violence at the polling centers, according to state electoral authorities.

And while the murder rate fell in Mexico between 2019 and 2022, in absolute numbers the country is still reeling from historically high levels of around 30,000 homicides each year. The true number is likely higher, experts say.

The violence appeared to have been a top concern for voters as cartels extend their grip through Mexico.

Claudia Sheinbaum has been coy about her security proposals but has pointed to her record as Mexico City mayor, when, according to her team, she improved the police force’s working conditions and intelligence-gathering abilities.

A video of outgoing Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador congratulating projected president Claudia Sheinbaum is displayed at a hotel in Mexico City on June 3.

Mexico’s President Andres Manuel López Obrador has congratulated Claudia Sheinbaum on her expected win in Sunday’s presidential election. 

López Obrador also congratulated the other presidential candidates and the Mexican people, saying he was proud of the large turnout.

Claudia Sheinbaum addresses supporters in Mexico City on Monday, June 3.

Claudia Sheinbaum has responded to the announcement of her projected victory in Mexico’s presidential election early Monday morning, saying her administration would govern all Mexicans “without distinction,” even though not everyone supports her policies.

She also spoke about the historical significance of becoming the first female president of the country.

Sheinbaum said her two rivals in the race, Xóchitl Gálvez and Jorge Álvarez Máynez, had called to congratulate her on her projected victory.

Sheinbaum, the candidate from the ruling party, received the most votes in Sunday’s elections, according to preliminary results from the National Electoral Institute.

The Electoral Court must validate the presidential election, and if confirmed, Sheinbaum will start her presidency on October 1.

Ruling party presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum leaves the polling station where she voted during general elections in Mexico City, on June 2.

Even though Claudia Sheinbaum was expected to win during campaign polls, her large margin in the votes came as a shock, CNN’s Gustavo Valdes reports from Mexico City.

Sheinbaum might get up to 60% of the vote, which is even higher than outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador when he was elected six years ago, Valdes said.

Sheinbaum is the candidate for the ruling Morena party.

Valdes said voters told CNN that a woman president would help change Mexico’s image of being a “macho” country, where patriarchal culture impedes women’s advancements.

Claudia Sheinbaum waves to her supporters in Mexico City on June 3.

Claudia Sheinbaum is projected to win Mexico’s presidential election and become the first woman to lead the country’s government, according to preliminary results reported by the National Electoral Institute (INE).

Sheinbaum, the candidate of Mexico’s ruling party Morena, won between 58.3% and 60.7% of the vote, according to INE’s quick count, a statistical method that predicts the trend in voting from a random sample of polling stations.

Opposition coalition candidate Xóchitl Gálvez trailed Sheinbaum with between 26.6% and 28.6% of the vote.

The Citizen Movement candidate Jorge Álvarez Máynez came in third place with between 9.9% and 10.8% of the vote.

The Electoral Court must validate the presidential election. If it does, Sheinbaum will start her presidency on October 1.

Presidential candidate Claudia Sheinbaum arrives at her closing campaign rally at the Zocalo in Mexico City on May 29.

Claudia Sheinbaum, the former head of the government of Mexico City and candidate for the ruling Morena party, is projected to be the country’s first female president.

Sheinbaum, a former climate scientist, entered the campaign as the favorite, according to February and March polls by Mitofsky, Parametría, and De las Heras Demotecnia, which placed her support between 49% and 67% compared to her political rivals.

Sheinbaum holds a degree in physics and a master’s and doctorate in energy engineering. She has received several accolades for her academic career.

Born in Mexico City in 1962, she has two children and one grandchild. Her partner, Jesús María Tarriba, whom she met at university while both were studying physics, is currently a financial risk specialist at the Bank of Mexico. 

In 2018, she became the head of government of Mexico City, the first woman elected to this position. Her desire to be part of Mexican politics began in 2000 when she was appointed Secretary of the Environment for the Federal District under Andrés López Obrador’s administration until 2006.

Claudia Sheinbaum arrives at her closing campaign rally at the Zocalo in Mexico City on May 29.

In 2015, she became the first woman elected as the head of the Tlalpan borough, serving until 2017. In early 2018, she joined the government of Mexico City as head until June 2023, when she stepped down to run for the presidency with the Morena party, of which she is a founder, aiming to succeed her party colleague, López Obrador.

As part of her campaign within Morena, Sheinbaum is designated the coordinator for the Defense of the Transformation, whose mission, as stated on her LinkedIn profile, is to defend and promote the values of the Fourth Transformation of Public Life in Mexico, the central axis of López Obrador’s policy. 

Much of her life has been dedicated to university teaching, focusing on renewable energy and climate change. In 2007, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), to which Sheinbaum contributed, received the Nobel Peace Prize.

Sheinbaum is not only the first female president in Mexico, but the first president with Jewish heritage, although she rarely speaks publicly about her personal background and has governed as a secular leftist.

Translated by Karol Suarez. CNN’s Rey Rodríguez, Laura Paddison, Jack Guy, Fidel Gutiérrez, Krupskaia Alís, Aditi Sangal, Karen Esquivel and Carmen Sánchez contributed reporting to this post.

Claudia Sheinbaum, presidential candidate of the ruling MORENA party, gives a thumb up after she voted in the general elections, in Mexico City, Mexico June 2.

Frontrunner Claudia Sheinbaum will have to act quickly on Mexico’s organized crime and security issues if she wins the presidency, said Will Freeman, a fellow for Latin America studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Freeman also said Sheinbaum would inherit a rising fiscal deficit, stemming from President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s big spending campaign, as well as long term issues such as migration and climate change.

Sheinbaum is the candidate for the ruling Morena party under López Obrador, and Sunday’s election is seen by some as a referendum on the policies of the outgoing president.

López Obrador’s popular social welfare has helped poorer Mexicans but his “hugs, not bullets” policy of not confronting cartels has not stopped criminal violence. Mexico’s homicide rate is among the highest in the world, and more than 100,000 people remain missing in the country.

Sheinbaum comes with a team from her time as Mexico City mayor that has a proven record on improving security but it remains to be seen if she can replicate that on a national scale, Freeman said.

Mexico’s election officials postponed a press conference in which initial preliminary results based on a small percentage of the votes were expected to be announced, CNN’s Gustavo Valdes in Mexico City reports.

Claudia Sheinbaum has emerged as the frontrunner of the presidential vote, and reporters at her campaign headquarters say her team is gearing up for a celebration, Valdes said.

“Thousands of them are already in Zócalo, which is the main square in Mexico City, but there’s nothing official,” he said.

Supporters of Claudia Sheinbaum, former mayor of Mexico City and presidential candidate for the Morena party, celebrate during an election night rally at Zocalo Plaza in Mexico City, Mexico, on Sunday.

Mexico is awaiting for results confirming the win of its first female president, which would mark a remarkable achievement in a country known for its patriarchal culture.

The two leading presidential candidates are women: Claudia Sheinbaum from the leftist Morena party and Xochitl Gálvez, from the conservative PAN party, who is representing a coalition of opposition parties. The third candidate is Jorge Álvarez Máynez, who is representing the center-left Citizens’ Movement.

Their respective parties have made early claims of victory, even though official results have not yet been announced by the National Electoral Institute (INE).

Sunday’s election was the largest in the country’s history. Over 98 million voters were registered to cast a ballot in Mexico and more than 20,000 positions are set to be filled.

Read more about today’s historic election here.

Mexico’s National Electoral Institute (INE) opened its preliminary electoral results program (known as PREP) on Sunday night.

The system captures results from each of the polling locations in the federal elections.

The PREP is updated in real time and is expected to be open for 24 hours, until 10 p.m. ET on Monday.

Earlier on Sunday, an official of the INE said that at some point in the evening they would report results from the “fast count,” which is “a procedure to provide citizens with early and accurate information on election results.”

Official results have not yet been announced by the the INE.

Here’s a look at where things stand with about 25.4% of electoral records captured from the PREP:

You can track the latest results here.

Supporters of Claudia Sheinbaum gather in the Zocalo plaza in Mexico City, Mexico, on June 2.

Crowds are starting to arrive in the Zócalo, the main square in Mexico City, where supporters of Morena candidate Claudia Sheinbaum are gathering, CNN en Español’s Natalia Cano reports.

Cano interviewed Sheinbaum’s supporters, who were already celebrating having a woman president, and the first of the left.

Sunday’s election is seen by some as a referendum on the policies of outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador. The Mexican president is Sheinbaum’s mentor, whose popular social welfare helped poorer Mexicans, but whose “hugs, not bullets” policy of not confronting cartels has not led to a substantial drop in homicide numbers.

Cano reported that people are arriving in the main square with flags and signs.

The official results of the presidential election are yet to be announced.

Indigenous women vote during general elections in Zinacantan, Mexico, on Sunday.

US officials are closely monitoring Mexico’s presidential election Sunday as they prepare a border executive action that could be announced as early as Tuesday.

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

But Mexico’s election also comes at a critical time for the Biden administration.

In recent months, the US has relied heavily on Mexico to step up immigration enforcement and help stem the flow of migration to the US southern border. The election in Mexico has raised uncertainty in the minds of some Biden officials 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 doing so after Mexico’s election. The administration will likely need buy-in and assistance from Mexico to execute the order.

Officials expect that a new administration in Mexico would likely continue cooperating with the US on migration given years of partnership, but it’s unclear how migrants — and especially, smugglers — might plot their next moves in a moment of government transition.

Mexico appears set to elect its first female president, which would mark a remarkable achievement in a country known for its patriarchal culture and high rates of gender-based violence, where around 10 women are murdered every day.

Mexico remains a dangerous place to be a woman, with sky-high femicide rates for the region, though it outranks several countries in terms of women’s parliamentary representation.

Here’s a look at where women are in the top seat of power:

CNN’s Tara John contributed reporting to this post.

Presidential candidates Xóchitl Gálvez and Claudia Sheinbaum.

Mexico’s ruling Morena party and the opposition coalition are making early claims of victory in the country’s elections, even though official results have not yet been announced by the National Electoral Institute (INE).

Morena party chief Mario Delgado said exit polls showed that Claudia Sheinbaum “will be the first female president in our history!”

But Xóchitl Gálvez, presidential candidate for the opposition alliance, said her coalition won the elections and called on President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to respect the vote of Mexicans.

Both declarations came as INE chief Guadalupe Taddei Zavala called on political parties to “respect the rules of the game and accept the results with maturity and responsibility.”

The presidential candidate of Movimiento Ciudadano, Jorge Álvarez Máynez, has not yet commented publicly on what Delgado and Gálvez said.

When will results be announced? The first results of Mexico’s presidential election will be reported between 10 p.m. and 11 p.m. local time (12 a.m. ET and 1 a.m. ET), the INE said earlier today.

These initial results will be part of what is known as the “fast count,” which is “a procedure to provide citizens with early and accurate information on election results,” said Uuc-kib Espadas from INE.

Mexicans voted for national and local candidates during a massive and historic election Sunday. With over 98 million eligible voters and more than 20,000 public offices being contested, this election is the largest in the country’s history.

Mexicans are also expected to elect their first female president. Claudia Sheinbaum from the leftist Morena party and Xochitl Gálvez from the opposition coalition are the top presidential candidates vying for the role.

See photos from around Mexico as voters headed to the polls:

A man casts his ballot at a polling station in Mexico City on Sunday.

People lining up to vote at a polling station in Guadalajara, Jalisco state, Mexico, on Sunday.

A polling station official marks a citizen's thumb with indelible ink in Monterrey, Mexico, on Sunday.

Voters cast their ballots in Mexico City on Sunday.

Indigenous Tzotzil people queue to vote in Zinacantan, Chiapas state, Mexico, on Sunday.

A woman casts her ballot at a polling station in San Bartolome Quialana, Mexico, on Sunday.