Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo comes from a Mexican family of Jewish heritage, with Ashkenazi roots on her father’s side and Sephardic on her mother’s. Despite celebrating Jewish holidays with her grandparents she has said she “grew up without religion” and does not formally practice any faith.
Quick Profile: Claudia Sheinbaum
| Full Name | Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo |
| Date of Birth | June 24, 1962 |
| Nationality | Mexican |
| Political Party | National Regeneration Movement (MORENA) |
| Current Office | President of Mexico (since Oct. 1, 2024) |
| Religion | Non-religious |
What religion is Claudia Sheinbaum?
Claudia Sheinbaum comes from a Jewish family but has made clear that her personal faith is non-religious. All four of her grandparents were Jews (two Ashkenazi from Lithuania, two Sephardic from Bulgaria), yet neither of her parents practiced religion.
In interviews she has explicitly stated that her parents were atheists and that she herself “never belonged to the Jewish community” growing up. Although she proudly acknowledges her heritage and even celebrated Jewish holidays in a cultural sense, she has repeatedly emphasized that she does not practice any faith and is not affiliated with a church or synagogue. Her campaign team summed it up by calling Sheinbaum “a woman of faith” in a general sense but “not religiously affiliated”.
Early Life
Sheinbaum was born on June 24, 1962 in Mexico City. She is the daughter of Annie Pardo (a biologist and UNAM professor) and Carlos Sheinbaum (a chemical engineer). The family lived in Mexico City, where Sheinbaum grew up attending public schools. Showing an early aptitude for science, she enrolled at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) to study physics. After earning her bachelor’s degree, she remained at UNAM for graduate studies in energy engineering, completing both a master’s and a Ph.D. there. For her doctoral research she spent time at the University of California, Berkeley’s Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory. This advanced training in science and engineering shaped her career, she later became an environmental engineering researcher and joined Mexico’s engineering faculty. Notably, Sheinbaum was part of the scientific team on the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) whose collective work earned the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize.
Rise in Public Life
Sheinbaum became politically active in the 1980s and 1990s, joining student movements and early reform efforts in Mexico City. In 1998 she helped found a student-led party (the Revolutionary Democratic Party), but she did not hold public office until the new millennium. In 2000 she was appointed Secretary of the Environment for Mexico City by then-Mayor Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a role she served through 2005. In that position she oversaw major projects to modernize the city’s transit and infrastructure, for example, she helped launch the city’s new Metrobus rapid-bus system and a second-story highway over the Periférico beltway. After López Obrador’s failed presidential bid in 2006, Sheinbaum returned to academia and continued her climate-science work (including contributions to the IPCC).
Her electoral career began in earnest in 2015, when she ran for office as head of the Tlalpan borough of Mexico City. Sheinbaum won that election and took office mid-2015, focusing locally on issues like water access and urban development. Building on her success, she ran for Mayor of Mexico City in 2018 and won decisively. In July 2018 Sheinbaum took office as mayor of Mexico’s capital making history as the city’s first female mayor (and notably its first Jewish-heritage mayor).
As Mayor of Mexico City (2018–2023), Sheinbaum became known for progressive urban and environmental initiatives. She pushed policies to improve public transit, expand green space, and manage resources more sustainably. Her administration expanded rainwater harvesting projects and modernized waste collection systems, and it launched an ambitious reforestation program across the city. She also proposed a major overhaul of the city’s aging subway system, pledging significant investment to modernize trains and tunnels. Overall, Sheinbaum’s tenure as mayor combined social improvements with technical planning, for example, she improved the bus and Metrobus networks while also stressing water rights and infrastructure safety. These accomplishments boosted her national profile and set the stage for her presidential run.
Vision and Governance Style
Sheinbaum’s vision as a leader is shaped by her scientific background and progressive outlook. Early in her presidency she unveiled a broad economic-development agenda called “Plan México,” which lays out 13 goals (from reducing poverty and inequality to boosting domestic manufacturing) backed by hundreds of billions in investment. This plan reflects a strong state role in guiding sustainable growth, for example, it aims to increase Mexico’s share of global exports, expand vocational education, and require local governments and industries to favor domestic production.
In energy and environmental policy, Sheinbaum has doubled down on a green-transition approach. She has promoted new laws and programs to orient Mexico’s state-owned energy companies toward clean energy. Analysts describe her agenda as building a “Big Green State,” wherein Pemex (the oil company) and CFE (the electric utility) lead decarbonization efforts under state coordination. Her government increased renewable projects (solar and wind), launched new EV initiatives (such as a state-owned urban electric car brand), and invested in battery and lithium industries.
Sheinbaum’s leadership style is generally pragmatic and technocratic. Colleagues note that she takes a “cool head” approach to big challenges. She often stresses collaboration and problem-solving rather than ideological clashes. Observers expect her to continue aspects of López Obrador’s “Fourth Transformation” (which emphasizes social spending and anti-corruption) but with greater focus on stability and international cooperation. As one commentator put it, her scientific credentials and mayoral experience suggest she will “prioritize collaboration and problem-solving” on international issues, seeking to balance Mexico’s needs with pragmatic diplomacy.
Personal Life
Sheinbaum’s personal life reflects her identity as a working mother and scientist. Sheinbaum married financial consultant Jesús María Tarriba in 2023, and she has two adult children (from a previous marriage). According to reports, she is a grandmother as well. She has stated that she is a “woman of faith,” but in a broad sense, in her 2024 inauguration address she identified herself as “a mother, a grandmother, a scientist and a woman of faith”. This phrase sparked discussion because it contrasts with her longtime claim of being secular; yet she appears to use “faith” more in a cultural or abstract way than as devotion to a creed.
Trivia
- Sheinbaum is the first female president of Mexico and the first president of Jewish heritage in Mexico’s history.
- Sheinbaum has a Ph.D. in energy engineering from UNAM (with graduate work at UC Berkeley). As an IPCC contributor, she was among the scientists sharing the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007.
- Before the presidency, she was mayor of Mexico City (2018–2023), championing transit and green projects. She also served as Secretary of the Environment for Mexico City (2000–2005)
- She prefers the feminine title Presidenta (presidenta) rather than the masculine presidente, reflecting her emphasis on women’s leadership.
- In addition to her Nobel Prize association, Sheinbaum has been listed among Forbes’s Most Powerful Women and in other international rankings of influential figures (as of 2024). She is often described as part of Mexico’s “Fourth Transformation” generation, the progressive movement started by her mentor AMLO
