Claudia Sheinbaum will take office on Tuesday, the first woman and Jewish person to lead Mexico in the country’s more than 200-year history as an independent nation.

A former climate scientist and Mexico City mayor, Ms. Sheinbaum won in a landslide in general elections in June, and is succeeding her mentor, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, as president of the world’s largest Spanish-speaking nation — and the United States’ top trading partner.

Ms. Sheinbaum, a leftist, campaigned on a vow to continue the legacy of her predecessor, and her win was seen by many as a clear vote of confidence in Mr. López Obrador and the party he started, Morena.

In Mexico, a country steeped in machismo where seven in every 10 women have experienced some form of violence, Ms. Sheinbaum’s inauguration is a milestone and a symbol for many of women’s empowerment.

But she also takes office in a country with the largest budget deficit in decades, a deepening security crisis and an ever more powerful governing party that has moved to profoundly redesign the justice system and other aspects of public life through a series of constitutional amendments proposed by Mr. López Obrador.

Here is what to know about Mexico’s new president.