Gov. Newsom travels to Mexico for inauguration of country's 1st woman president

MEXICO CITY -- Governor Gavin Newsom traveled to Mexico on Monday for the inauguration of the country's first woman to be elected as president, Claudia Sheinbaum.

Her historic inauguration is scheduled for Tuesday in Mexico City. In addition to becoming the first woman to be elected in the country's 200-year history, the climate scientist will also be the first person of a Jewish background to lead Mexico, in which its citizens are predominately Catholic.

Sheinbaum has a history with the Golden State, having spent several years in the 1990s researching at the Berkely Lab, where she studied transportation energy use in Mexico, as well as trends for the country's energy use in buildings.

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On Tuesday, Claudia Sheinbaum will officially be the first woman president in Mexico's 200 year history. Her election is one peak in what has been several years of significant progress for gender parity in elected office.

This is not Newsom's first trip to Mexico for a presidential inauguration. When he was governor-elect, Newsom visited Mexico City for the inauguration of Sheinbaum's predecessor, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

Sheinbaum was the favored successor of the outgoing president, winning a landslide victory in the nation's June election. She previously led Mexico City as mayor and is a member of the country's ruling left-wing party called Morena.

It is not abnormal for California politicians to travel to Mexico for such events, as the country remains a key trading partner and California's top export market.

Newsom's visit comes in the midst a special session he called for to address gas prices. Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo, D-Los Angeles, criticized the governor's visit - as well as several other Assembly members - on social media Monday, writing "Several members of the Assembly canceled plans to attend the inauguration in order to complete our work amid the Special Session and vote on ABX2 - the Governor's priority - what an interesting situation we find ourselves in.

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The California Assembly is scheduled to vote on Newsom's proposal to require new regulations for the oil and gas industry on Tuesday, the same day as Sheinbaum's inauguration.

She will begin her six-year term after the inauguration. Mexico's constitution does not allow reelection of its president.