Claudia Sheinbaum. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

JNS.org – According to exit polls, the first-ever female elected mayor of Mexico City is also the city’s first Jewish one – local politician and scientist Claudia Sheinbaum.

Sheinbaum entered politics after working as an environmental engineer at the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

“Just because I might look like a skinny scientist doesn’t mean I’m not going to crack down on crime here,” she told attendees at a Mexico City rally. “I will.”

Sheinbaum’s grandparents emigrated to Mexico City from Lithuania and Bulgaria, and she told a Jewish audience in the city that they would celebrate all the Jewish holidays together.

Mexico City is home to almost all of Mexico’s Jews – a community of approximately 40,000 people.