Mazatlán has traditionally been governed by municipal leaders from the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party. During the municipal elections of 1989, Rice Humberto García (1990-1992) won the municipal presidency as a candidate for the National Action Party (PAN). However, the Institutional Revolutionary Party regained the municipality during the elections of 1992, when Martin Gavica Garduño (1993-1995) won the leadership. Alejandro Camacho Mendoza reclaimed the municipality for his party, PAN, for the 1996-1998 period, and Alejandro Higuera Osuna held it for the 1999–2001 term.