Claudia Sheinbaum has achieved a historic milestone in Mexican politics, having been elected as the nation’s first female president and also its first Jewish leader.
The 61-year-old, a former mayor of Mexico City and lifelong progressive, ran a focused campaign, leveraging the popularity of her predecessor. According to the official quick count, she was declared the winner in Sunday’s election.
Now victorious, the focus shifts to how Sheinbaum, who has a distinct personality compared to her mentor and current President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, will establish her leadership style.
In 2018, Sheinbaum described her connection to Judaism as cultural rather than religious, saying, “I grew up without religion. That’s how my parents raised me. But obviously, the culture, that’s in your blood.”
Sheinbaum’s background includes Jewish grandparents who emigrated from Bulgaria and Lithuania to Mexico to escape adverse conditions, including the prelude to the Holocaust.
This rich family history plays a silent yet important role in her identity, although her political campaign primarily highlighted her professional credentials rather than her heritage.
“The election of Claudia Sheinbaum as Mexico’s first female Jewish president is a benchmark for the Jews of Latin America,” explained Ilan Stavans, a humanities professor at Amherst University and a scholar on Jewish diaspora in Latin America.
Tessy Schlosser, director of the Mexican Jewish Documentation and Research Center, noted that the Mexican public regards Sheinbaum’s governance prospects through the lens of her political affiliations rather than her Jewish roots.
“Although Sheinbaum is not part of the organized Jewish community, her family’s history is part of Mexican Jewish tradition and history, as she herself assumes,” Schlosser stated.
Professionally, Sheinbaum is an accomplished physicist and former climate scientist. This background is anticipated to influence her policy-making, especially in areas of environmental and scientific advancement.
On the international stage, Sheinbaum has been vocal about conflicts such as the ongoing strife between Israel and Hamas. During her campaign, she condemned the violence and expressed support for a two-state solution, echoing her past public sentiments, which included strong advocacy for peace and humanitarian issues.
After she assumes office on October 1st, one of Claudia Sheinbaum’s most pressing issues will be Mexico’s persistently high levels of violence. The country has experienced a 150% increase in violence, with 37 candidates murdered during this election cycle, as reported by Integralia, a consultancy based in Mexico City.
During her campaign, Sheinbaum spoke sparingly about her strategy, mentioning only her plans to expand the quasi-military National Guard established by Lopez Obrador and to continue addressing the social issues that make young Mexicans vulnerable to cartel recruitment.
“Let it be clear, it doesn’t mean an iron fist, wars, or authoritarianism. We will promote a strategy of addressing the causes and continue moving toward zero impunity,” Sheinbaum stated regarding her approach to combating criminal gangs, during her final campaign event.
