In 2011, she left the legislature when she won her party’s nomination as candidate for president. She won the nomination over Calderón’s choice of Ernesto J. Cordero, with 55% of the vote in the primary. She was the first female candidate for president of PAN, and the first female candidate for president from a major political party in Mexico’s history. She ran not only as “different” from the other contenders but also different from her party, which had been in power for the previous twelve years. She was the least-known of the candidates from Mexico’s three main parties (PAN, PRI and PRD).