Sign up for the daily Inside Washington email for exclusive US coverage and analysis sent to your inbox Get our free Inside Washington email

       Please enter a valid email address

       Please enter a valid email address

       SIGN UP

       I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy notice

       Thanks for signing up to the

       Inside Washington email

       {{ #verifyErrors }} {{ message }} {{ /verifyErrors }} {{ ^verifyErrors }} Something went wrong. Please try again later {{ /verifyErrors }}

       A street-food salesgirl who became a tech entrepreneur and senator is shaking up the contest to succeed Mexico's popular president and offering many voters the first real alternative to her country's dominant party.

       Xóchitl Gálvez, 60, helped her family as a girl by selling tamales on the street. Today the straight-talking opposition senator is a long shot against Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s Morena party, which holds Congress and 22 of Mexico’s 32 states.

       Despite her slim chances, Gálvez seems to have shaken the president so badly that he's been insulting her almost daily during his morning briefings. The opposition senator comfortably sits in the national spotlight nearly a year ahead of the June 2, 2024 national election.

       “She fills a space that was completely empty," said Roy Campos, president of polling firm Mitofsky Group. "All of the opposition population starts to see her and it generates hope.”

       Next year’s election is López Obrador’s chance to show if he has built a political movement that can outlast his charismatic leadership. Whoever his successor is, they will have to tackle persistently high levels of violence, heavily armed drug cartels and migration across the nearly 2,000-mile border with the United States.

       Recommended Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide

       Campos's group has not conducted an opposition candidate survey but that doesn't prevent him from feeling comfortable declaring Gálvez a “political phenomenon.”

       Promoted stories

       Health Truth Finder

       Weight Loss After 55 Comes Down To This Simple Greek MethodHealth Truth Finder Watch Now

       Undo

       by Taboola by Taboola

       Sponsored Links Sponsored Links

       Promoted Links Promoted Links

       A political independent who initially set her sights on competing to be Mexico City mayor and often travels the sprawling capital on a bicycle, Gálvez entered the Senate chamber in December dressed as a dinosaur, an allusion to party leaders known known for their archaic, unmovable practices. At the time, López Obrador had proposed electoral reforms that critics said would weaken the country's National Electoral Institute. The Senate passed them earlier this year, but the Supreme Court later blocked them from taking effect.

       Gálvez never shies from conflict with López Obrador. She went to a judge in December asking for an order to let her speak at the president’s daily press briefing. She was granted the order, but the president rejected it.

       Gálvez's fluid use of profanity, contrasting with her comfort moving in political circles, is an advantage with much of the working class, and with many young Mexicans. She registered this month to compete for the presidential nomination of a broad opposition coalition — the historically leftist PRD, the conservative PAN and the PRI that ruled Mexico for 70 years — joking that López Obrador was her campaign manager.

       López Obrador remains highly popular, and while he cannot run for another six-year term, several high-profile members of his Morena party have been jockeying fiercely for months. They include Mexico City Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, Foreign Affairs Secretary Marcelo Ebrard and Interior Secretary Adan Augusto, who all agreed to resign their positions last month to campaign in earnest.

       Their faces are plastered on billboards across the country, while Gálvez makes clever videos often shot with her own iPhone, some viewed millions of times.

       Mexican society is looking for someone new to believe in, Gálvez told The Associated Press.

       “We’ll have to see how much I manage to connect and how much I can convince,” she recently told the AP.

       Growing up poor in the central state of Hidalgo, her father was an Indigenous Otomi schoolteacher. He was also abusive, macho and alcoholic, Gálvez said. She learned to speak his native ？？h？u as a child, holds her Indigenous roots close and favors wearing embroidered huipils.

       As a girl, she sold gelatin and tamales to help her family. She worked as a scribe in a local civil registry office as a teen. At 16, she moved by herself to Mexico City and worked as a phone operator until earning a scholarship that allowed her to study computer science. Then she started a technology company, that, as López Obrador noted recently, has won government contracts.

       Gálvez served as Indigenous affairs minister for President Vicente Fox, a plain-talking politician from the conservative National Action Party (PAN) who broke the Institutional Revolutionary Party’s 70-year stranglehold on Mexican politics.

       While she entered the Senate with the PAN, she has registered to compete for the nomination of the broad coalition of the country's traditional parties.

       Galvez has assured PAN voters that she wants to keep advocating for them despite her moving to win over other parties with interests outside the traditional conservative base.

       Her sense of humor and ability to speak comfortably, even at times profanely, with people in the street are characteristics she shares with López Obrador. They may be why he treats her as a threat.

       The president accuses Gálvez of using her humble origins and speech to “trick” the poor, who make up much of his base of support. Instead, he paints her the candidate of the rich, the “oligarchs” and “conservatives.”

       She dismisses him as a fearful male chauvinist.

       "He’s going to try to deny my origins and deny my work, but there it is,” she said.

       “I had to face a very patriarchal culture, very macho, where as women we weren’t seen as anything else but for work,” she said.

       Gálvez said she’s not put off by the challenge posed by the favorites from the president's party.

       Recommended Bosnian Serb lawmakers pass law recriminalizing libel which critics say threatens free speech Home sales fell in June to the slowest pace since January, limited by near-historic low inventory Ripe tomatoes and stale bread combine for a celebration of summer

       “They’re there because they want to continue doing the same as the president,” she said. “They don’t have their own identity.”

       Víctor Gordoa, president of Public Image Group, said Gálvez’s life story is the kind that can reach people across social strata, resonating with the working class who see themselves in Gálvez, as well as the wealthy who see her as a potential weapon who has been untouchable so far.

       More about AP Andrés Manuel López Obrador Mexico Senate Congress Mexico City Pan Marcelo Ebrard Vicente Fox United States Supreme Court

       1/ 1As a child, she sold street tamales. A senator now, she's shaking up Mexico's presidential race.

       As a child, she sold street tamales. A senator now, she's shaking up Mexico's presidential race. Mexico Presidential Race

       Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

       Promoted stories

       Healthy Guru

       Dermatologist: If You Have Toenail Fungal Infection Try This Tonight (It's Genius!)Healthy Guru| Sponsored Sponsored

       Undo

       The chaikin report

       "August 23 will change everything," says Wall Street legendThe chaikin report| Sponsored Sponsored

       Undo

       Chaikin Analytics

       “August 23 will change everything,” says Wall Street legendChaikin Analytics| Sponsored Sponsored

       Undo

       Best Hyundai Deals | Search Ads

       The New Hyundai Ioniq Is A Jaw DropperBest Hyundai Deals | Search Ads| Sponsored Sponsored

       Learn More

       Undo

       Online Shopping Tools

       Amazon Hates When You Do This, But They Can't Stop YouOnline Shopping Tools| Sponsored Sponsored

       Learn More

       Undo

       Lincoln Deals

       The New Lincoln SUVs Will Have You Speechless (See Prices)Lincoln Deals| Sponsored Sponsored

       Undo

       Senior Discounts By National Penny

       People Born Before 1964 Are Due A Large SurpriseSenior Discounts By National Penny| Sponsored Sponsored

       Learn More

       Undo

       Health Insight Journal

       This New Device Is Leaving Nеuropathy Experts SpееchlessHealth Insight Journal| Sponsored Sponsored

       Learn More

       Undo

       culture Matt Damon says kissing co-star Scarlett Johansson was ‘hell’

       Undo

       news Marjorie Taylor Greene faces backlash after showing explicit photos of Hunter Biden

       Undo

       Gundry MD

       Heart Surgeon Begs Americans: “Stop Doing This To Your Fruit”Gundry MD| Sponsored Sponsored

       Learn More

       Undo

       All Things Auto

       Acura Has Done It Again. This Year's Lineup Has Left Us SpeechlessAll Things Auto| Sponsored Sponsored

       Learn More

       Undo

       StreetInsider.com

       Take A Look Inside Whoopi Goldberg's Repulsive HomeStreetInsider.com| Sponsored Sponsored

       Undo

       Babbel

       The App That's Teaching Americans Spanish In 15 Minutes A DayBabbel| Sponsored Sponsored

       Sign Up

       Undo

       lifestyle Harry, Meghan’s ‘request to fly Air Force One after Queen’s funeral denied’

       Undo

       news Sailor says emotional goodbye to dog after spending three months at sea

       Undo

       TopAnswersToday

       Inflation Is Causing Banks To Offer Savings Accounts With Up To 12% Interest TopAnswersToday| Sponsored Sponsored

       Click Here

       Undo

       news Trump shares video issuing apocalyptic threat to anyone who ‘f***s around with us’

       Undo

       ？ Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article

       Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.

       Subscribe

       Already subscribed? Log in