Candidates spar in Mexico’s first presidential debate ahead of June 2 election WPXI [Video]

MEXICO CITY — (AP) — In Mexico’s first presidential debate on Sunday ahead of June 2 elections, former Mexico City Mayor and frontrunner Claudia Sheinbaum appeared comfortable with her polling lead, remaining calm amid ex-Senator Xóchitl Gálvez’s personal attacks.

Jorge Álvarez Máynez, a candidate from the Citizen Movement party who is polling in single digits, grinned widely and presented himself as an alternative to the other two candidates, who he said represented the “old politics.”

In the debate, candidates responded to questions about health, education, corruption, transparency, vulnerable groups and violence against women.

Polls have shown Sheinbaum of the Morena party of outgoing leftist President Andrés Manuel López Obrador leading by more than 20 points over Gálvez, who represents a coalition of opposition parties. If Sheinbaum or Gálvez wins, they would become the first woman president in Mexico, a country with a reputation for gender-based violence and a “macho,” male-dominated …