The 2026 municipal elections, which will take place on March 15 and 22, are expected to bring their share of changes to several large cities. Here are the municipalities likely to welcome a mayor from a new political side.
Paris, Marseille, Lyon… As the municipal elections approach, candidates from each party are jostling in big cities to gain access to town hall. TF1 Info made a summary of the town halls which could change their label.
After having acquired numerous cities around the Mediterranean such as Perpignan and Fréjus, the National Rally is banking on Toulon this year with media candidate Laure Lavalette. It was in this commune that the FN conquered its first large city, in 1995 with Jean-Marie Le Chevallier. The far-right party is also well placed in Carcassonne, Cagnes-sur-Mer, Menton and Lens.
On the other side of the political spectrum, La France insoumise could obtain its first city of nearly 100,000 inhabitants with Roubaix and David Guiraud. Jean-Luc Mélenchon had obtained a good score in the presidential election (52.5%), as in Saint-Denis, La Courneuve or even Évry, which could fall into the hands of the Insoumis.
The socialists are targeting two cities: Strasbourg with former mayor Catherine Trautmann, minister of Lionel Jospin (1997-2000), and Saint-Étienne, still marked by the conviction of Gaël Perdriau in the sex tape blackmail affair. Amiens is also an objective, particularly since the support given by François Ruffin to the list led by the PS.
Already established in Montreuil, Vitry-sur-Seine and Vénissieux, the Communist Party (PCF) gathered in Nîmes to win against the two deputies of the outgoing mayor and the vice-president of the National Rally, Julien Sanchez. Julien Le Coq will want to compete with the former Prime Minister and outgoing mayor, Édouard Philippe.
The Republicans are reconquering
In addition to Paris and Lyon, which would constitute major symbolic gains for Bruno Retailleau’s Les Républicains, the right is also eyeing several environmentalist municipalities, such as Besançon or Bordeaux, where alliances with the center could reshuffle the cards.
In Besançon, LR candidate Ludovic Fagaut, supported by the MoDem, has strong hopes. In 2020, he only missed victory by 600 votes. Despite the presence of a competing centrist list (Renaissance and Horizons), this time he believes he has a real window to change the capital of Franche-Comté.
In Bordeaux, it is the former Macronist minister Thomas Cazenave who is leading the charge to try to bring the city back into the fold of the right, to the detriment of the existing environmentalist mayor. Here too, the ballot promises to be very open.
Cities that environmentalists hope to preserve
On the environmentalist side, the EELV camp refuses to be overwhelmed. The Gironde capital could still remain green: projections announce an extremely close result in Bordeaux.
The environmentalist party, on the other hand, should retain several of its strongholds: Grenoble, Tours and perhaps Poitiers, despite a multiplication of lists on the left. The head of EELV, Marine Tondelier, recognizes that the situation is “difficult” for her party in Lyon and Strasbourg, two threatened cities. But she sees prospects elsewhere. According to her, Lorient, Mulhouse or even Fécamp could swing in favor of environmentalists.
published on February 13 at 9:09 a.m., Sébastien Salpietro, 6Medias
date: 2026-02-14 00:24:00
Keep reading