Claudia Scheinbaum Profile: Which veteran politician is set to become Mexico’s first female president?

CNN
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Claudia Scheinbaum, known affectionately as “La The Doctor” for her illustrious academic background, is a physicist with a PhD in energy engineering, a former mayor of one of the world’s most populous cities, and a member of the United Nations panel of climate scientists who won the Nobel Peace Prize.

And on Sunday, she became Mexico’s first woman and first Jew to be elected president.

Sheinbaum won about 60% of the vote in Mexico’s largest election in history, making it a historic achievement in a majority-Catholic country known for its deeply patriarchal culture.

The 61-year-old is set to succeed outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a longtime ally whose social welfare policies have lifted many Mexicans out of poverty and whose leftist Morena party has topped opinion polls.

“Our duty will always be to care for all Mexicans, without distinction,” Sheinbaum said in a speech early Monday. “Even if many Mexicans do not fully agree with our plans, we must continue to build a just and more prosperous Mexico in peace and harmony.”

Scheinbaum was born in Mexico City in 1962 after her maternal grandparents emigrated from Europe to escape the Holocaust, and she would go on to work in the city in a variety of roles over the decades.

While studying for her bachelor’s degree at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), she became involved in student politics and protested against the privatization of public education. After graduating, she studied energy engineering at the University of California, Berkeley, where she became fluent in English, and earned a master’s degree before returning to UNAM for a doctorate.

Sheinbaum entered politics in 2000 when he was appointed Mexico City’s environment secretary by Lopez Obrador, who was then head of the Mexico City government.

After retiring from his post in 2006, Scheinbaum devoted himself to energy research and served on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), where he was part of the team that won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.

In 2015, she became the first woman elected as ward mayor of Mexico City’s Tlalpan neighborhood, a position she held until 2017. The following year, she was elected head of the citywide government, also the first woman to do so, and will step down in June 2023 to launch a presidential bid.

Sheinbaum has two children and one grandchild. Her partner, Jesús María Tariba, whom she met while studying physics at university, is a financial risk specialist at the Bank of Mexico.

Had the constitution allowed it, Mexico would likely have re-elected Obrador, one of the few politicians known simply by his initials, like JDR and JFK. After riding the wave of AMLO’s popularity, some question whether Scheinbaum can distance himself sufficiently from his longtime ally.

One of Scheinbaum’s biographers, the journalist Jorge Cepeda, has argued that Scheinbaum will develop her policies gradually after taking office, acting first as a “loyal disciple of her leader” and then “glancing” at her own policies, careful not to foment instability among the movement’s base.

But Cepeda also noted clear differences between the two leaders. In an article for the Spanish daily El Pais, Cepeda recalled asking Scheinbaum what sets her apart from other politicians. “I’m someone who makes decisions based on data,” she replied.

In contrast, Cepeda argued that Obrador might sacrifice data for party loyalty: “If (one) piece of data gets in the way, another piece of data will be chosen,” he said, while Scheinbaum is allowing himself to be guided by the science.

Obrador will leave office with widespread support and an impressive record of poverty alleviation, but his tenure was marred by his “embraces, not bullets” policy, which failed to confront drug cartels and allowed violence to spread.

Violence has loomed large over what has become Mexico’s bloodiest elections, with dozens of candidates and aspirants killed by criminal gangs seeking to influence those in power.

Mexico has one of the highest murder rates in the world, with more than 100,000 people missing in the country, and the region continues to be a dangerous place for women, with a disproportionately high murder rate for women, with data estimating that about 10 women are murdered every day.

Will Freeman, a Latin America fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, said Sheinbaum needs to address Mexico’s organized crime and security problems quickly.

“It’s surprising that the ruling party was re-elected in a landslide victory. Given the widespread violence, the problem is that the opposition didn’t put together a more credible proposal for what they would do,” Freeman said.

Freeman said Sheinbaum had a track record of improving public safety while leading a team as mayor of Mexico City, but it remains to be seen whether he can replicate that on a national scale.

Both Mexico and the United States will hold elections in 2024, something that only happens once every 12 years and comes at a time of transition in their relationship.

Sheinbaum will take office just a month before the November election, when immigration will be a major issue between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

Mexico is a key ally of the United States on a range of issues from trade to combating drug trafficking to managing migration. Current and former U.S. officials have frequently described President Joe Biden’s relationship with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador as friendly and professional, and they look forward to a productive relationship with Mexico’s next president.

But Mexico’s elections come at a critical time for the Biden administration.

In recent months, the U.S. has relied heavily on Mexico to help crack down on immigration and stem the flow of migrants to the U.S. southern border. The election in Mexico has raised fears among some in the Biden administration about whether anything will change with a key partner on border cooperation.

One consideration in introducing the new border control orders was to implement them after Mexico’s elections, as the administration would likely need Mexico’s buy-in and support to implement the orders.

Officials expect Mexico’s new administration will likely continue to cooperate with the U.S. on migration issues, given the longstanding partnership, but it’s unclear how migrants, especially smugglers, will plan their next moves during a transition period.

This story has been updated.