Latina governor of US border state will attend inauguration of Mexico’s first female president

SANTA FE, N.M. — Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham is heading south of the border to attend the inauguration of Mexico’s next president.

In a statement on Friday, she announced the trip to Mexico City for the inauguration of Claudia Sheinbaum as Mexico’s first female president.

The Democratic governor and former second-term congressman is also leading a delegation to participate in a roundtable discussion on the clean energy sector and energy security, along with a reception by U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar.

New Mexico taxpayers pay for the trips of the group that also includes Lujan Grisham’s chief of staff, Daniel Schlegel, and secretaries of state for natural resources and economic development agencies.

New Mexico has the highest percentage of Spanish-speaking residents of any state in the US – with many residents tracing their local ancestry back to the era of Mexican and Spanish rule. And New Mexico’s port of entry, Santa Teresa, is a major commercial border crossing between the U.S. and Mexico.

In Arizona, Tucson Mayor Regina Romero will go to Sheinbaum’s inauguration on Tuesday with Biden’s presidential delegation.