The ruling Morena party fared worse than expected in Sunday’s federal lower house election but took the lion’s share of the spoils in the state gubernatorial races, with preliminary results showing Morena could win at least 10 of the 15 governorships up for grabs.
Morena currently governs four states — Chiapas, Puebla, Tabasco and Veracruz – none of which held elections for governor this election cycle. The party is also in office in Mexico City. With its new apparent victories, the party will come close to holding power in half of Mexico’s 32 states (including the capital, which has state-like status.)
Also of note is that five women (and possibly six) are on track to become state governors, all but one for Morena.
Mexico currently only has one female governor —Claudia Pavlovich of Sonora — although the Mexico City mayoral position has governor-like status and is currently held by Claudia Sheinbaum.
Here’s a rundown of the results for the governor elections as they stood on Monday morning when votes were still being tallied.
Baja California (currently held by Morena, projected to be won by Morena)
- Marina del Pilar Ávila, an academic with limited political experience, is poised to win the governorship with about three-quarters of the vote counted. The Morena-PT-PVEM candidate had about 48% support, well ahead of former Tijuana mayor Jorge Hank Rhon of the Solidary Encounter Party (PES), who was in second place with 31%.
- Lupita Jones, a former Miss Universe who represented the National Action Party (PAN), the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) and the Democratic Revolution Party (PRD) alliance, was expected to finish third.
Baja California Sur (currently held by the PAN, projected to be won by Morena)
- Morena-PT candidate Víctor Castro, a former mayor of La Paz, leads the race with more than 90% of votes counted. The on-leave federal senator secured almost 47% of the vote, while PAN candidate Francisco Pelayo, a former mayor of Comondú, was in second place with about 40%.
Campeche (currently held by the PRI; Sunday’s race is too close to call but Morena is slightly ahead)
- Layda Sansores, a former Mexico City borough chief and daughter of a former governor of Campeche, secured almost 33% of the vote for the Morena-PT alliance, but Eliseo Fernández Montufar of the Citizens Movement party and Christian Castro of the PAN-PRI-PRD coalition were close behind with about 32% and 31% of the vote, respectively.
Chihuahua (currently held by the PAN, projected to be won by a PAN-PRD alliance)
- María Eugenia Campos Galván, a former federal deputy who took a leave of absence as mayor of Chihuahua city to contest the election, is on track to become the northern border state’s next governor. She had about 44% support on Monday morning, well ahead of Juan Carlos Loera of the Morena-PT-New Alliance coalition, who attracted around 30% of the vote.
Colima (currently held by the PRI, projected to be won by Morena)
- Indira Vizcaíno Silva, a federal government delegate in Colima before being named as Morena’s candidate, looks set to secure the governorship of the small Pacific coast state for a Morena-New Alliance coalition. She won about 33% of the vote, while Mely Romero of the PAN-PRI-PRD alliance attracted about 27.5% support.
Guerrero (Currently held by the PRI, projected to be won by Morena)
- Morena candidate Evelyn Salgado, daughter of Félix Salgado – an accused rapist forced out of the Guerrero gubernatorial race for failing to comply with rules to report campaign spending —is on track to secure a convincing victory in the southern state. She had about 46% support on Monday morning, eight points ahead of PRI-PRD candidate Mario Moreno, a former mayor of state capital Chilpancingo.
Michoacán (currently held by the PRD, projected to be won by Morena)
- Morena-PT candidate Alfredo Ramírez Bedolla, an on-leave Michoacán deputy, is ahead in a close race. He had almost 42% of the votes counted by Monday morning, while PAN-PRI-PRD hopeful Carlos Herrera Tello, an ex-mayor of Zitácuaro, had about 39%.
Nayarit (currently held by the PAN, projected to be won by Morena)
- On-leave Senator Miguel Ángel Navarro appears ready to secure the governorship of Nayarit for a coalition of Morena, the PT, the Green Party (PVEM) and the New Alliance party. Navarro secured more than 49% of the vote, a commanding lead over Movimiento Ciudadano candidate Ignacio Flores and PAN-PRI-PRD aspirant Gloria Núñez, who attracted 20.5% and 17% of the vote, respectively.
Nuevo León (currently held by independent Governor Jaime Rodríguez, projected to be won by MC)
- MC candidate Samuel García, a former federal senator who found himself in hot water last year after scolding his wife for “showing too much leg,” is set to take the prized governorship of Nuevo León, one of Mexico’s richest states. García secured almost 37% of the vote in the border state, well ahead of PRI-PRD candidate Adrián de la Garza, who garnered about 28%. Both García and de la Garza, a former state attorney general and the on-leave mayor of Monterrey, were accused of electoral crimes in the lead-up to Sunday’s vote.
Querétaro (currently held by the PAN, projected to be won by the PAN)
- Former senator Mauricio Kuri secured a thumping victory for the PAN in Querétaro, a conservative bastion. Preliminary results showed him winning 54% of the vote, while Morena candidate Celia Maya won just 24%. Kuri, a former leader of the PAN in the upper house of federal Congress, has also helmed the Querétaro branches of the Mexican Chamber of Commerce and the Mexican Employers Federation.
San Luis Potosí (currently held by the PRI, projected to be won by a PVEM-PT alliance)
- The PVEM and PT formed their own alliance in San Luis Potosí without Morena, their senior federal ally. Its candidate, José Ricardo Gallardo Cardona, won about 37% of the vote, according to preliminary results, ahead of PAN-PRI-PRD hopeful César Pedroza, who attracted 33%.
Sinaloa (currently held by the PRI, projected to be won by Morena)
- It’s a case of third time lucky for Rubén Rocha, candidate for Morena and the Sinaloa Party, or PAS. Rocha, who previously sought the governorship of the northern state in 1986 and 1998, appears to have achieved a resounding victory this time, securing almost 57% of the vote. The runner-up, PAN-PRI-PRD candidate Mario Zamora, won over about one-third of Sinaloa voters.
Sonora (currently held by the PRI, projected to be won by Morena)
- Alfonso Durazo, President López Obrador’s former security minister, will likely win the majority of the vote for a Morena-PT-PVEM-New Alliance coalition, having attracted 51.5% of the vote. The former lawmaker and personal secretary to former PAN president Vicente Fox was well ahead of second-placed PAN-PRI-PRD candidate Ernesto Gándara, who attracted about 35%.
Tlaxcala (currently held by the PRI, projected to be won by Morena)
- Lorena Cuellar, the candidate for a five-party alliance led by Morena, is ahead with almost 49% support among voters in Tlaxcala. It was the third time that Cuellar, the granddaughter of two former governors, had contested a gubernatorial election in Tlaxcala, a small state about 100 kilometers east of Mexico City. Runner-up PAN-PRI-PRD candidate Anabell Avalos secured about 37% of the vote.
Zacatecas (currently held by the PRI, projected to be won by Morena)
- David Monreal, brother of Morena party federal upper house leader Ricardo Monreal, is certain to win Zacatecas for a Morena-PT-PVEM-New Alliance coalition with almost 49% of the vote, according to preliminary data. He’s more than 10 points ahead of PAN-PRI-PRD candidate Claudia Anaya, who took leave from the federal Senate to contest the election. It was the second consecutive gubernatorial run for Monreal: the former federal senator and mayor of Fresnillo finished second for Morena in the 2016 election, won by current Zacatecas Governor Alejandro Tello.
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