Mexico election race heats up as two women vie for presidency

Campaigning officially began Friday for elections likely to produce Mexico’s first woman president-a watershed for a nation with a long tradition of macho culture.

Opposition candidate Xochitl Galvez launched her campaign after the stroke of midnight in one of Mexico’s most dangerous states, seeking to tap into voter concerns about the country’s rampant violence.

Public opinion polls suggest that she faces a tough battle against ruling party candidate Claudia Sheinbaum, a former Mexico City mayor and close ally of outgoing President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador.

With three months to go before the June 2 vote, Sheinbaum, a 61-year-old scientist by training, enjoys a significant lead with 63 percent support, according to an average of polls compiled by the Oraculus research firm.

Galvez, also 61, has 31 percent support, while Jorge Alvarez, 38, of the Citizens’ Movement party, is a distant third with just five percent, polls show.

At stake is the future of Latin America’s second-largest economy, a country of 126 million people that is a key trading partner of the United States and a major tourist destination but faces huge challenges from illegal migration and drug-related violence.