#  Leftist Climate Scientist Claudia Sheinbaum Wins Mexican Presidency in Landslide

     Details    Jake Johnson   ![logo](https://mail.citywatchla.com//templates/ja_teline_v/images/logo.png)         June 03 2024      [  ![](https://mail.citywatchla.com/images/stories/June-2024/045g.jpg#joomlaImage://local-images/stories/June-2024/045g.jpg?width=1508&height=842)    ](https://mail.citywatchla.com/world-watch/28984-leftist-climate-scientist-claudia-sheinbaum-wins-mexican-presidency-in-landslide)

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 MEXICO ELECTION - Leftist Claudia Sheinbaum, a close ally of popular outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, won Mexico's presidential election in a landslide on Sunday, with an official tally showing her leading right-wing opposition candidate Xóchitl Gálvez by nearly 30 percentage points.

Gálvez [called](https://www.barrons.com/news/mexican-opposition-presidential-candidate-concedes-defeat-243e9f23) Sheinbaum early Monday to acknowledge the results and concede defeat in what was the [largest race in Mexico's history](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/mexico-election-largest-history-female-president-rcna154887)—a contest [marred by deadly violence](https://www.courthousenews.com/electoral-violence-continues-to-stun-mexico-days-before-election/).

Sheinbaum, a [climate scientist](https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/mexicos-sheinbaum-activist-climate-scientist-presidential-frontrunner-2024-05-31/) and the former mayor of Mexico City, is set to become the first woman and the first person of Jewish descent to lead Mexico after Sunday's overwhelming victory, which was a boon to her leftist Morena party. According to official vote tallies, The Washington Post[reported](https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/06/02/mexico-president-election-sheinbaum-galvez/), Morena and its allies "appeared close to winning a supermajority in Congress, which would allow them to change the constitution."

"We imagine a plural, diverse, and democratic Mexico," Sheinbaum [told](https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jun/02/mexico-elections-first-female-president-violence) cheering supporters on Sunday. "Our duty is and will always be to look after each and every Mexican, without distinction."

David Adler, co-general coordinator of Progressive International, called Sheinbaum and Morena's win "epic, whopping, \[and\] historic."

While Sunday's contest—which involved more than 20,000 government positions—and outcome were unprecedented, some questioned whether the results would be truly transformative for Mexico, where [poverty and inequality remain high](https://apnews.com/article/mexico-poverty-rate-declines-9fedcf8f40f62971beff2f9ffa47f190) despite [minimum wage hikes](https://www.bloomberglinea.com/english/minimum-wage-in-mexico-set-to-rise-by-20-next-year-amlo-confirms/) and other progress made in recent years under the government of López Obrador, commonly known as AMLO.

"AMLO has done a little better for people than prior governments, and Sheinbaum has pledged to continue his political approach, though with a greater emphasis on [sustainability](https://www.elfinanciero.com.mx/elecciones-mexico-2024/2024/04/12/quien-va-a-gobernar-soy-yo-como-diferenciara-sheinbaum-su-gobierno-con-el-de-amlo/)," Tamara Pearson, a Mexican Australian author, journalist, and activist, [wrote](https://www.thenation.com/article/world/mexico-elections-sheinbaum-puebla/) for The Nation ahead of Sunday's race. "The pension for informal workers has increased to [6,000 pesos](https://www.gob.mx/bienestar/prensa/2024-inicia-con-aumentos-a-pensiones-de-bienestar-anuncia-ariadna-montiel?idiom=es) ($359) every two months. The health system for informal workers, which includes most Mexicans, is still extremely lacking but has improved."

The outgoing president has also faced backlash for [pursuing fossil fuel infrastructure projects](https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/whats-at-stake-for-the-environment-in-mexicos-upcoming-election/) that risk damaging Indigenous communities and the planet.

Mongabay's Maxwell Radwin [noted](https://news.mongabay.com/2024/05/whats-at-stake-for-the-environment-in-mexicos-upcoming-election/) last week that Sheinbaum—who [contributed to](https://www.ipcc.ch/site/assets/uploads/2018/02/ipcc_wg3_ar5_annex-iv.pdf) a major Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report—"continues to support one of AMLO's most polarizing projects, the [Tren Maya](https://news.mongabay.com/2024/04/all-aboard-tren-maya-heres-what-we-found-riding-mexicos-controversial-railway/), a 1,554-kilometer (966-mile) railroad crossing the Yucatán Peninsula."

"Despite dozens of legal [complaints](https://news.mongabay.com/2022/08/mexico-court-drops-injunctions-paving-way-for-controversial-tren-maya-railway/) about [deforestation](https://news.mongabay.com/2023/03/mexicos-tren-maya-hotel-construction-clears-forest-reserve-without-permits/), the destruction of cave ecosystems, and the relocation of Indigenous communities," Radwin observed, "she's defended the project and even [suggested](https://www.forbes.com.mx/claudia-sheinbaum-promete-en-yucatan-ampliar-el-tren-maya-hasta-puerto-progreso/) expanding it to a major port in the town of Progreso, in northwest Yucatán."

With Mexico facing a [devastating heatwave](https://www.lemonde.fr/en/environment/article/2024/05/31/mexico-hit-with-relentless-deadly-heatwave_6673356_114.html) and other [climate impacts](https://newrepublic.com/article/182099/claudia-sheinbaum-mexico-president-climate-scientist), Sheinbaum has pledged to prioritize clean energy development, vowing to "lead a $13.6 billion program to jumpstart Mexico's renewable energy sector," Politico [reported](https://www.politico.com/newsletters/power-switch/2024/05/31/a-green-turn-for-mexicos-presidency-00161099).

Sheinbaum is set to take office in October.

*(Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams where this article was first published.)*

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