Mexico’s 2024 election have become the deadliest and the bloodiest in its modern history. Mexico’s elections are also the largest in the Western Hemisphere according to Yahoo News.

A local government candidate in Mexico’s central Puebla state was assassinated on Friday, bringing the total number of assassinations to 37 ahead of Sunday’s election, according to security consultant Integralia.

On June 2, Mexicans have the opportunity to pick their first female president. However, this is more than just a presidential election. There are more than 20,000 open positions around the country, with 70,000 individuals vying for them.

One of the most pressing topics in this year’s presidential election is violent crime. Outgoing President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has had to explain for a continually high murder rate, with his opponents calling for reform.

According to security analyst David Saucedo, drug cartels will most likely attempt to coerce voters into supporting their preferred politicians.

Cartels are getting more hazardous; they are now well-armed and politically powerful. According to an NPR-translated article, more than 30,000 people are murdered in Mexico each year, compared to approximately 18,500 in the United States in 2023.

Mexico border crisis

This Mexican election coincides with the presidential election in the United States, which comes only once every 12 years. The two countries’ relationship is going through a difficult period.

Mexico became the United States’ largest economic partner last year, and both countries are grappling with the rising illegal drug trade.

Another important concern for voters this year is Mexico’s immigration policies on both its southern and northern borders. According to CNN, the National Migration Institute (INM) estimated a 77% rise in migrant arrivals from 2022-2023.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed legislation in December allowing state officials to detain and report persons suspected of unlawfully entering the United States.

A US federal court is presently blocking the bill, and the Mexican government has stated that it will only negotiate immigration concerns with federal officials. Both top presidential candidates endorse Mexico’s position.

Jorge Huerta Cabrera, a council candidate in Izucar de Matamoros, was fatally shot at a political rally on Friday, according to the state prosecutor’s office.

Electoral candidates murdered

On Wednesday, mayoral candidate José Alfredo Cabrera Barrientos was assassinated at his final campaign speech. He was one of 560 candidates and election officials assigned security guards by the government due to constant threats.

Reuters claimed that 37 candidates have been slain this election season, not including failed attempts. Integralia recorded 828 nonlethal attacks on political candidates during the current election season.

Claudia Sheinbaum, the ruling party’s candidate, is generally anticipated to win Sunday’s election and become Mexico’s first female president, a significant step forward in a country noted for its “macho” culture. The 61-year-old former mayor of Mexico City is also a climate scientist.

Sheinbaum has long been a supporter of the current president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who won by a landslide in 2018. They occasionally share campaign slogans as well as ideals.

Her primary opponent is former Senator Xóchitl Gálvez, who is also 61. Gálvez chastised incumbent López Obrador for his “hugs not bullets” approach of avoiding confrontation with drug cartels, which have taken control of significant portions of Mexico.

Jorge Álvarez Máynez, 38, is significantly behind the two female candidates in the polls. The former member of the Congress of the Union got international notice in May when a stage collapsed at his campaign rally in San Pedro Garza García, killing nine and wounding at least 121.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told national media this week that incumbent President Joe Biden should withdraw from the 2024 election contest to prevent former President Donald Trump from recovering the White House.

“We only have one shot to defeat Donald Trump, and we need a nominee who can do the job. And that would be me,” Kennedy stated during a 30-minute presentation on campaign polling at a rented location in downtown Brooklyn.

Kennedy then urged Biden to make a “No Spoiler Pledge” and resign from the race if he performed lower than Kennedy in a head-to-head showdown with Trump in a survey of 30,000 or more people in mid-October.

Kennedy stated that he would be pleased to make a similar pitch to the former president, but Trump “is not a spoiler because he can actually win.”

The address appeared to be a response to both parties’ criticisms on his capacity to influence the general election. Kennedy has come under fire from Trump in particular in recent days, with the former president claiming on social media that backing Kennedy was a “wasted vote.”

Democrats have not been hesitant in criticizing Kennedy, either, forming an organization with professional campaign strategists to tackle third-party dangers like Kennedy.

According to Democratic National Committee spokeswoman Matt Corridoni, Kenendy’s request to have Biden quit out is “as deeply unserious as his campaign is.”

Polling Show Biden Can’t Beat Trump

Kennedy and his campaign manager, Amaryllis Fox Kennedy, offered a survey from John Zogby Strategies, a business that has worked with both the campaign and a Kennedy-aligned super PAC, as proof that he should remain in the race rather than Biden.

According to the poll, Kennedy would defeat the former president if Biden or any other Democratic Party contender were not running.

“Is it possible that President Trump will participate in the election but not win? Yes, there is just one. “And that scenario is that President Biden admits that he cannot win,” Fox Kennedy stated during the presentation.

Fox Kennedy stated that calling on Biden to drop out of the race is fair because the DNC has also asked Kennedy to quit.

The Trump and Biden campaigns did not return a request for comment.

Any possible choice to drop out in October would be far too late to influence election results — mail and early voting begins in some states as early as September — and would almost certainly split the Democratic vote.

Younger Generation Prefers Kennedy

The Kennedy campaign’s presentation did not include any results for a three-way contest. Kennedy has roughly 11 percent support in national polls against Biden and Trump, according to a RealClearPolitics polling average, which is well short of what is required to win any Electoral College votes.

However, the polling presentation was well-received by Kennedy volunteers at the news conference and provided welcome new talking points.

“I’m always talking to people on Instagram, and they say, ‘he’s a spoiler,’ and ‘a vote for Kennedy is a vote for Trump,'” said Queens resident Alexis Leyco, 28. “I am excited. I’m absolutely going to use this.

According to Will Boothby, the Kennedy campaign’s Northeast regional director, over a dozen volunteers canvassed prior to the event and collected 500 signatures. The campaign is seeking to collect roughly double the 45,000 signatures required to place Kennedy’s name on the ballot in New York, and hundreds are arriving every day, he added.

Boothby said that much of the support for Kennedy’s petitions comes from younger people who are concerned about issues such as student loan debt and affordable housing, followed by older veterans from across the Empire State.

The campaign did not disclose how many signatures it currently has in New York, which has one of the higher signature requirements to get on the November ballot.

Kennedy’s ability to collect those signatures and defend his candidacy against legal challenges from both parties will determine how influential he is in the November election. “People who believe that I am spoiling at this point for President Biden,” stated Kennedy, “need to look at data.”

Source: Politico

Thousands of people have gathered on the South Bronx in New York for Donald Trump’s historic event on Thursday night, as he attempts to do what many believe is impossible: turn New York red for the first time since 1984.

Former President Trump’s devoted supporters braved heavy rain to gather at Crotona Park, hours before he was scheduled to take the stage in the deep-blue district that Joe Biden won with more than 60% of the vote in 2020.

Supporters lined up to listen to MAGA rappers, display tattoos honoring the GOP leader, and insist he can follow Ronald Reagan by winning in the Empire State.

People holding Dominican Republic and US flags chant while waiting in line to attend a demonstration for former US President Donald Trump at Crotona Park in the Bronx, New York.

Trump Resonating with Voters

While the gathering was not as diverse as the South Bronx as a whole, it did contain a considerable number of Black and Hispanic voters, with Spanish spoken throughout.

Ed Rosa, who made the short trek from the North Bronx, said he regrets voting for Biden in 2020 and intends to support Trump in November.

He believes the Democratic Party has “become too socialist” and is concerned about the economy and immigration crossing the southern border.

“For 50 years I was a Democrat and switched in the last three or four years,” said Rosa, 60, whose family is from Puerto Rico.

Some in the audience replied by yelling “Build the Wall,” a reference to Trump’s quest for a border barrier between the United States and Mexico while he was in office.

Trump portrayed himself as a better president for Black and Hispanic voters than Biden, slamming Biden’s immigration policy.

Biden’s Race Based Ads

He emphasized that “the biggest negative impact” of the flood of migrants in New York is “against our Black population and our Hispanic population, who are losing jobs, housing, and everything else they can lose.” They are the most affected by what is going on.”

On Thursday, the Biden team aired a pair of TV and radio ads criticizing Trump’s treatment of Black people. These included erroneous accusations that Barack Obama, the first African American president, was not born in the United States, as well as calls for the death of a group of Black and Hispanic adolescents convicted but later exonerated of raping a white lady jogging in New York’s Central Park in 1989.

Janiyah Thomas, Black media director for the Trump campaign, said in a statement that Biden was attempting to divert attention away from “terrible policies that are harming our community,” and that as a senator, Biden helped advance a bipartisan crime bill in 1994, which resulted in more Black men being imprisoned.

Source: Daily Mail, AP