Claudia Sheinbaum Elected Mexico’s First Female Jewish President

Claudia Sheinbaum, a climate scientist and former mayor of Mexico City, achieved a historic victory on Sunday, becoming Mexico's first female Jewish president. Sheinbaum secured the presidency with 58.3 percent of the vote, defeating opposition candidate Xochitl Galvez.

“For the first time in the 200 years of the republic, I will become the first woman president of Mexico,” Sheinbaum declared to her supporters amid chants of “president, president.”

Mexico, with a population that is 78 percent Catholic and home to about 40,000 Jews, saw Sheinbaum’s faith emerge as a minor topic during a campaign primarily focused on high crime rates and immigration. Nonetheless, her Jewish identity was both acknowledged and challenged during the race.

“I do not arrive alone,” Sheinbaum said of her victory. “We all arrived.”

Sheinbaum, who will begin her six-year term on October 1, rarely discusses her faith publicly but expressed pride in her Jewish heritage in 2018. The 61-year-old scientist-turned-politician has maintained a strategy of keeping her religious background discreet, according to journalist Pablo Majluf in an op-ed for the Etcetera newspaper.

One reason Sheinbaum, leader of the Morena left-wing party, downplayed her faith was due to antisemitic remarks during the campaign. For instance, former Mexican President Vicente Fox had to apologize for a comment implying Sheinbaum was not truly Mexican because of her background.

Despite such rhetoric, Sheinbaum is not the first Mexican president with Jewish roots. Previous presidents with Jewish heritage include Salinas de Gortari and Plutarco Elías Calles.

Sheinbaum’s most notable reference to her faith came during a 2018 speech at a Jewish community event as mayor of Mexico City. She acknowledged her parents' Jewish origins without explicitly identifying as Jewish.

Like many Jews in Mexico, Sheinbaum is largely secular. However, she has been seen making the sign of the cross in public. “I grew up without religion, like my parents, but clearly in the [Jewish] culture,” she said. Sheinbaum emphasized her pride in her heritage, noting her grandparents' origins from Bulgaria and Lithuania.

Her Ashkenazi grandparents emigrated from Lithuania to Mexico City in the 1920s, and her maternal Sephardic grandparents moved from Bulgaria during World War II to escape the Holocaust.

During the campaign, Galvez criticized Sheinbaum for a photo showing her with a skirt decorated with Our Lady of Guadalupe, a Catholic icon. Galvez accused her of political opportunism regarding religion. Sheinbaum responded by asserting, “I am a woman of faith and of science,” and accused Galvez of overlooking the separation of church and state.

Ultimately, religion may not have significantly influenced the election. Isaac Ajzen, director of the Diario Judio news site, suggested that voters, including Jews, would likely vote based on policies rather than religious affiliation. Mexican writer Zyanya Mariana endorsed Sheinbaum on social media, highlighting her identity as a hardworking Jewish woman and praising these attributes as beneficial for the country.