The socialist Emmanuel Grégoire has become the new mayor of Paris after winning the municipal elections of 2026, thus consolidating the left's control over the French capital. His arrival to power marks a political continuity regarding the period of Anne Hidalgo, of whom he was one of the closest collaborators.
Born in 1977 in Les Lilas and a militant of the Socialist Party since the early 2000s, Grégoire has developed practically his entire career in Parisian local politics.
He was a councilor since 2014 and, from 2018, he held the position of first deputy mayor under the mandate of Hidalgo, playing a key role in municipal management. Subsequently, he made the leap to national politics as a deputy in the National Assembly in 2024, reinforcing his institutional profile.
The socialist, has led a left-wing coalition that brings together socialists, ecologists, and communists, an alliance that that has managed to prevail against conservative candidate Rachida Dati. The result confirms the resistance of the progressive bloc in Paris in a national context marked by the advance of conservative and far-right forces in other cities.
"Paris has remained faithful to its history," Grégoire assured this Sunday before his supporters gathered at the entrance of the concert hall the Rotonde de Stalingrad.
Pragmatic profile
Grégoire represents a pragmatic social democratic line within the Socialist Party. During the campaign, she opted for maintaining and deepening the policies promoted in recent years in the capital, especially in areas such as ecological transition, sustainable mobility, and access to housing. Her discourse has insisted on the need to preserve a greener city model, with less prominence for cars and greater weight for public transport and bicycles.
At the same time, the new mayor has wanted to mark distances with the most radical sectors of the French left, rejecting alliances with Jean-Luc Mélenchon and claiming a management focused on efficiency and institutional stability.
With this profile, Emmanuel Grégoire assumes the leadership of one of Europe's most influential capitals with the challenge of giving continuity to the progressive project of the last decade.
HIDALGO-Grégoire
During the mandate of Anne Hidalgo at the head of the Paris City Council, Emmanuel Grégoire was one of her most trusted figures.
In that period, they worked hand in hand on key projects such as pedestrianization, the expansion of bike lanes, or the environmental policies that have defined the recent Parisian urban model.
However, in the succession process, differences were noted within the socialist sphere and Hidalgo's circle, especially regarding the electoral strategy and the future leadership of the left in the city.