Claudia Sheinbaum promises to govern for all. Here are the challenges she’ll face

Claudia Sheinbaum won a landslide victory to become the first female president of Mexico, adding to the growing list of accolades to the climate scientist and former mayor of Mexico City.

Claudia Sheinbaum won a landslide victory to become the first female president of Mexico and first Jewish person in the role, adding to the growing list of accolades to the climate scientist and former mayor of Mexico City. But when she formally takes office in October, how will she tackle the biggest challenges facing the country as concerns about its security and the future of its democracy loom large? Complicating her administration’s debut, Sheinbaum will also have to contend with the shadow of her polarizing mentor, the outgoing President Andres Manuel López Obrador, from the same Morena party. Sunday’s vote was widely seen as a referendum on López Obrador’s term. And while his popular social welfare policies have helped push many Mexicans above the poverty line, experts say his security measures have done little to address the expanding reach of organized crime in the country. In a speech following the election, Sheinbaum promised to govern for all and to be an investor-friendly president. “We know that dissent is part of democracy. And although the majority of the people support our project, our duty is and will always be to look after each and every one of the Mexicans without distinction,” she said as she struck a conciliatory tone at the end of the highly partisan race.