Rutilio Cruz Escandón Cadenas (born 3 May 1958) is a Mexican lawyer and politician from Chiapas.

Before becoming governor, he represented Chiapas as a senator of the LVIII and LIX and as a federal deputy in the LX Legislature.

[1] Escandón grew up in Baja California, where he obtained a law degree at the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California in 1981 and was deputy director, and then director, of the state public property registry from 1981 to 1986.

Termed out of the Senate, he was placed on the PRD proportional representation list from the third region and served as a federal deputy in the LX Legislature, where he presided over the Special Commission for the National Farm Agreement.

[2][4] Aided by a split between the PRI and governing PVEM as well as strong support nationwide for Morena, Escandón beat the other challengers handily on election night with exit polls putting him between 43 and 51 percent of the vote.