The president of Mexico denies the bloodshed at his front door

In a span of eight months, Mexico has endured the assassination of 34 candidates for local offices. But in the telling of President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, this spate of violence is nothing more than media “sensationalism.”

For Obrador, there is no political liability. The incumbent president of Mexico is term-limited, and his successor will be elected on Sunday, with all signs pointing to a possible landslide election of his anointed successor, Claudia Sheinbaum, who is poised to become the nation’s first female president.