Claudia Sheinbaum, of the ruling party Morena, is projected to become Mexico's first woman president after a landslide victory in Sunday's election, according to a quick count by the country's electoral commission.
Why it matters: Mexico is the largest trading partner of the U.S. and a key ally, especially when it comes to migration.
Zoom in: Sheinbaum, a climate scientist and formerly the head of Mexico City's government, beat opposition candidate Xóchitl Gálvez, a former senator from a coalition called Fuerza y Corazón por México.
- Sheinbaum, who contributed to the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, has proposed policies similar to those of her mentor, outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who cannot run again because of term limits.
- With surging violence taking center stage during the election cycle, Sheinbaum has among other things promised to create a new national criminal investigations program to tackle impunity (more than 98% of crimes go unpunished or unsolved in Mexico).
The big picture: Sunday marked Mexico's largest election ever, with 20,000 local, state and federal offices at stake.
What we're watching: Sheinbaum is scheduled to take office in October.
- Morena is expected to keep its majority in Congress but likely by a smaller margin.
- That could pose a barrier for some of Sheinbaum's proposed constitutional reforms, including changes to the Supreme Court and pension system and increasing the number of crimes with which people can be jailed indefinitely before trial.
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