MIDTERM ELECTIONS

Mexico Elects First Independent Governor

Ruling party loses seats.

Mexican voters appeared to elect the nation's first independent governor on Sunday, underscoring growing frustration with corruption among political parties. The 58-year-old Jaime Rodriguez, known as "El Bronco," defeated his rivals by at least six percentage points in Nuevo Leon State near the Texas border, according to exit polls conducted by the television network TV Azteca and other media. Rodriguez said he was waiting for hte official count to confirm his victory but addressed supporters. "Nuevo Leon has shown that through the ballot box, you can change things," he said. "We're going to give the parties six years of vacation." President Enrique Pena Nieto and his Institutional Revolutionary Party lost seats, according to the early count, but an increase in Green Party representatives could give the PRI-Green coalition a majority.