TEPATEPEC, Mexico (AP) 鈥 She sold snacks in a small town in central Mexico as a girl and rose to national politics with a biography that could help take her to the heights of power, she hoped.
But polls are showing trailing the candidate in the June 2 election. A recent visit to the streets of her hometown showed why, and revealed something about the priorities of today's Mexican voters.
People in Tepatepec are less interested in G谩lvez鈥檚 life story than their own difficult lives. Morena party has been able to ease those lives with social programs. And that鈥檚 helped his prot茅g茅 .
When G谩lvez entered the presidential race, many of L贸pez Obrador's adversaries felt that she embodied their hopes of taking power. She represents a coalition that includes the PRI, which governed Mexico for 71 years, and she began her campaign as a political phenomenon backed by the country's business elites. But her popularity has been declining.
It鈥檚 gotten to the point where some residents of her own hometown of 20,000 people in central Mexico are questioning G谩lvez鈥檚 own autobiography, which began in a modest adobe home here.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not true that she was poor,鈥 said Mar铆a del Socorro Mendoza, who was selling vegetables in a market. "Her father was a teacher and her family was one of the ones that lives well here.鈥
Relatives told The Associated Press that G谩lvez鈥檚 father was alcoholic and spent his money on drink. His 8-year-old daughter X贸chitl had to sell tamales and other snacks in the street to help her family, remembered Tepatepec resident Mar铆a de los 脕ngeles Acevedo, 64.
The likely next president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, is a globally recognized scientist born in the capital. G谩lvez, 61, rebelled and left the town at 16 to study computer engineering in Mexico City and while G谩lvez鈥檚 father Heladio had a job as a teacher, the family of seven struggled financially because he spent all his money on alcohol before dying of a terminal illness in 2003, said her cousin, Ram贸n G谩lvez, 65.
鈥淪ometimes we didn鈥檛 know if there would be enough to eat,鈥 he said.
Their grandparents spoke Otom铆, an Indigenous language native to the region around Tepatepec, G谩lvez remembered, but the townspeople are still unconvinced by G谩lvez, even today.
鈥淪he would have been bigger here if she鈥檇 done something for her hometown, but she hasn鈥檛 done anything,鈥 said Juana Manzo, 55, who sells vegetables in a Tepatepec market. 鈥淪he鈥檚 nothing here.鈥
Morena controls Mexico鈥檚 Congress and 22 of 32 states, a political machinery that appears, for the moment, invulnerable. L贸pez Obrador鈥檚 new social programs for people older than 65, youth and rural residents are a key part of his appeal, political analyst David Saucedo said.
That has percolated down to many residents of Tepatepec.
G谩lvez sometimes uses the mild profanity common to everyday speech in Mexico, swear words so bland they're not even considered profanity in everyday use. Manzo said that while G谩lvez appeared to be attempting to appeal to Mexico鈥檚 working class, the way she has done so in a political arena has been unappealing.
鈥淪he speaks in a really crude way,鈥 Manzo said as she sold vegetables. 鈥淚t makes me ashamed as a woman, because it鈥檚 not the right way to speak.鈥
Manzo and other in Tepatepec also said they were worried about Mexico鈥檚 direction, and none of G谩lvez's proposals were appealing.
鈥淭he country鈥檚 in terrible shape,鈥 Manzo said. 鈥淭here鈥檚 more crime, more drug trafficking every day.鈥
G谩lvez headed the 好色tv Commission for Indigenous Development under Vicente Fox, who was president of Mexico from 2000 to 2006 for the conservative 好色tv Action Party. Afterward, she headed the government of the Mexico City borough of Miguel Hidalgo between 2015 and 2018.
G谩lvez formally entered the presidential race after L贸pez Obrador kept her out of his regular morning press conference in June. She wanted to respond to his false accusation that she wanted to eliminate national social programs.
He then started identifying her as a candidate of Mexican forces that he identified as conservative oligarchs. He accused her of using her modest background and common language as a way to fool the working classes.
An independent with progressive ideas, she supported the LGBT+ community and moved around the city by bike.
She was elected to Mexico's Senate in 2018.
Political consultant Rub茅n Aguilar has known G谩lvez since he was part of the Fox administration and said that her smarts and tenacity have helped her overcome extreme adversity.
鈥淚f you're able to overcome the vicious cycle of extreme poverty, you've got something," Aguilar said. But, he added, she now is facing a tough electoral enemy: the Morena political machine.
