special election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, or a bypoll in India, is an election used to fill an office that has become vacant between general elections. A vacancy may arise as a result of an incumben ...

was held in the Mexican state of

Tamaulipas Tamaulipas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tamaulipas, is a state in Mexico; one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into 43 municipalities. It is located in nor ...

on 19 February 2023 to fill the state's vacant seat in the Senate of the Republic. It was won by

José Ramón Gómez Leal José Ramón Gómez Leal (born 7 July 1977) is a Mexican politician affiliated with the National Regeneration Movement party. He was a local deputy of the Congress of Tamaulipas from 2010 to 2013 for the National Action Party. As well as Delega ...

of the

National Regeneration Movement The National Regeneration Movement (), commonly referred to by its syllabic abbreviation Morena (), is a major left-wing political party in Mexico, often described as oscillating between social democracy and populism. As of 2023, it is the la ...

(Morena), who received over 72% of the votes cast in a three-way race.

Background

Américo Villarreal Anaya Américo Villarreal Anaya (born 23 May 1958) is a Mexican cardiologist and politician affiliated with the National Regeneration Movement and the current Governor of Tamaulipas. He previously served as a Senator for the state. Early life and ...

of Morena was elected to Tamaulipas's first Senate seat in the 2018 general election but resigned his position to contend for the governorship of Tamaulipas in the 2022 election; he was replaced by his

alternate Alternative or alternate may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Alternative (''Kamen Rider''), a character in the Japanese TV series ''Kamen Rider Ryuki'' * Alternative comics, or independent comics are an alternative to mainstream superh ...

, Faustino López Vargas, on 10 January 2022. Villarreal won the gubernatorial election held on 5 June and, except for a three-day period in September, did not return to his Senate seat. López Vargas was killed in a traffic accident in Trancoso, Zacatecas, on 8 October 2022. The Senate declared the seat vacant and, in accordance with the

Constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

, ordered a special election to cover the vacancy, to be held within a period of no more than three months. The

National Electoral Institute The Instituto Nacional Electoral (INE) (Spanish for ''National Electoral Institute'') (formerly Federal Electoral Institute) (, IFE) is an autonomous, public agency responsible for organizing federal elections in Mexico, that is, those relat ...

(INE) resolved that the election would take place on 19 February 2023.

Election

There were three contenders in the 19 February 2023 election: *

of the

(Morena), in the ''Juntos Hacemos Historia en Tamaulipas'' coalition with the Labour Party (PT), with Indira Paola López Carreto as his alternate. * of the National Action Party (PAN), in the ''Va por Tamaulipas'' coalition with the

Institutional Revolutionary Party The Institutional Revolutionary Party (, , PRI) is a List of political parties in Mexico, political party in Mexico that was founded in 1929 as the National Revolutionary Party (, PNR), then as the Party of the Mexican Revolution (, PRM) and fin ...

(PRI) and the

Party of the Democratic Revolution The Party of the Democratic Revolution (, , PRD) is a state-level social democracy, social democratic political party in Mexico (previously national, until 2024). The PRD originated from the Democratic Current, a political faction formed in 198 ...

(PRD), with Georgina Barrios González as her alternate. * Manuel Muñoz Cano of the

Ecologist Green Party of Mexico The Ecologist Green Party of Mexico (, , PVEM or PVE) is a green political party in Mexico. Founded in 1986, the party is associated with Jorge González Torres and his son Jorge Emilio González Martínez. It has seldom gotten more than 10% of ...

(PVEM), who fought the election without coalition partners, with José Ricardo Espinoza Velázquez as his alternate. With a low turnout – 21.70% of the 2,738,995 registered voters – election day was described by observers as slow. The count concluded the following day, and from the preliminary results it was clear that Gómez Leal had won the election. The result was confirmed by the INE on 22 February.

Aftermath

Gómez Leal was sworn in as a senator on 7 March 2023. On 20 February 2024 he resigned his seat to seek re-election and was replaced by his alternate, López Carreto, for the remaineder of the congressional session. In the 2 June 2024 Senate election, he was elected to Tamaulipas's second Senate seat, sharing the Morena two-person formula with

Olga Patricia Sosa Ruiz Olga Patricia Sosa Ruiz is a Mexican politician, who serves as a federal deputy with leave for the LXIV Legislature of the Mexican Congress, LXIV Legislature of the Chamber of Deputies for the 8th federal electoral district of Tamaulipas, 8th distr ...

. Sanmiguel Sánchez, his 2023 opponent, won the state's third seat.

References

{{reflist 2023 elections in Mexico February 2023 in Mexico