Sinaloa

“A lot of people say we can’t do anything because of threats from organized crime, or we don’t have qualified people,” said Quiroa, who is running in northwest Sinaloa state, an epicenter of cartel violence.

Her critics say her past defending the leader of the Sinaloa Cartel should disqualify her from standing as a judge.

"The Sinaloa Cartel is not only 'El Chapo' Guzman. It is a company that has criminal and economic interests which are being resolved in the justice system. The cartel could pressure her to show loyalty because she has already been their employee."

The 17 relatives of El Chapo — co-founder of the Sinaloa cartel, one of six Mexican criminal syndicates that the Trump administration has designated as foreign terrorist organizations — crossed on foot from Tijuana into San Diego last week as part of an apparent plea deal between U.S. prosecutors and representatives of one of El Chapo’s imprisoned sons, Ovidio Guzman López.

In Mexico, security experts say, El Chapo’s relatives could be in danger because of the bloody factional conflict currently raging among rival factions of the Sinaloa cartel.