Mexico elects first female president, Claudia Sheinbaum declared winner in historic election

Mexicans have elected their first woman president.

Claudia Sheinbaum won between 58.3% and 60.7% of the vote on a historic election day, according to preliminary results announced by Mexico's National Electoral Institute Monday in an election that saw voters bear long lines to cast ballots from Mexico City to New York, Montreal and Madrid.

On Oct. 1, she'll take the reins of a country that is the United States' top trading partner and the second-largest economy in Latin America. She'll also be leading a country that has been convulsed by violence tied to organized crime.

With Sheinbaum's win, Mexico beat the U.S. to electing a female head of state. She is also the first person of Jewish descent to lead a country that is predominantly Catholic.

Millions of Mexicans headed to the polls on Sunday to elect a new president and thousands of other leaders, from local mayors to state governors and federal representatives.

The presidential contest was a three-way race. Sheinbaum, a scientist and former mayor of Mexico City, was the clear front-runner heading into election day, according to polls, with Xóchitl Gálvez running a distant second and Jorge álvarez Máynez in third.

Dig deeper South of the border, a woman is poised to take power in historic Mexico elections

Sheinbaum is a political protege of the current – and still popular – President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who is affectionately known in Mexico as "AMLO." That alliance buoyed Sheinbaum's campaign with a tidal wave of momentum for months, and she enjoyed double-digit leads in the polls.

Polls closed at 6 p.m. Central time in most of Mexico's 32 states. Mexican presidents serve a single six-year term and aren't eligible for re-election.

More on how the elections unfoled: Will a woman become president? Mexico awaits historic presidential election results: Live

Sunday's election is historic for another reason: It's the biggest in Mexican history, according to its National Electoral Institute, with more than 20,600 elected offices up for grabs across the country.

Some 98 million Mexicans are registered and eligible to vote in the election, according to the electoral institute. A majority of them – 51 million – are women.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Claudia Sheinbaum becomes Mexico's first female president