Higinio Martínez to Lead Mexico’s Senate as Morena Unites Behind Him

Higinio Martínez Miranda secured Mexico’s Senate presidency after rival Morena lawmakers withdrew their bids and united behind him.

Martínez will take over as president of the Senate’s governing board on Sept. 1. His selection followed a closed-door plenary meeting of Morena’s parliamentary group, where he received consensus support from fellow senators.

Senators Óscar Cantón Zetina and Manuel Huerta Ladrón de Guevara abandoned their own aspirations and backed Martínez, a former mayor of Texcoco in the State of Mexico. Martínez said he would exercise the position within the legal framework and offer equal treatment to Morena lawmakers and opposition forces.

“I will work in accordance with the Constitution, the Organic Law and the regulations. That is what the president of the Senate must do,” Martínez said. He also promised to respect parliamentary rules and treat all political forces represented in the upper chamber equally.

Martínez is a physician trained at the National Autonomous University of Mexico and a Morena founder. He has spent 50 years in politics, beginning alongside Heberto Castillo Martínez, and has served as a senator three times. He also served as a local lawmaker, led the State of Mexico Congress from 2006 to 2009, and twice served as mayor of Texcoco.

His political career has also included work with Andrés Manuel López Obrador in the Mexico City government between 2000 and 2003. During that period, he collaborated on metropolitan projects with Claudia Sheinbaum, then the city’s environment secretary.

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I will work in accordance with the Constitution, the Organic Law and the regulations. That is what the president of the Senate must do.