Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo says she won’t seek reelection

PARIS — Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo will not seek a third term in office, the former Socialist presidential candidate said in an interview with Le Monde published on Tuesday.

Since becoming mayor of the French capital in 2014, Hidalgo has led a hard-fought battle to make Paris a greener city — an effort that also turned her into a controversial figure in French politics.

“I will not seek a third term. This decision has been made for a long time. I have always believed two terms are enough to carry out significant change,” Hidalgo told the paper.

Hidalgo said she plans to throw her support behind Senator Rémi Féraud, a relative unknown.

Rumors about Hidalgo’s future had been running rampant for weeks. The mayor said she plans to continue in politics after the 2026 mayoral election, “helping to build a social democratic and environmentalist force … I’ll continue to work on climate justice issues, both nationally and internationally. I’ll see where I fit in, in a place where I’ll be very independent.”

The succession race promises to be contentious within Hidalgo’s own ranks. The Parisian mayor is putting pressure on the city’s top left-wing officials to endorse her pick Féraud instead of former Deputy Mayor Emmanuel Grégoire, an adviser to a city councilor, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly, told POLITICO. 

Grégoire, who was elected to the French National Assembly earlier this year, had long been seen as Hidalgo’s most likely successor. He announced his plans to run for mayor last week, before Hidalgo’s announcement, pledging to be the mayor who will “reconcile Parisians.” 

Hidalgo’s aggressive push to turn Paris into a so-called 15-minute city, in which all daily amenities would be accessible via a short walk or bike ride, made her a divisive figure politically but earned her global acclaim. Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore described her as “a visionary leader” who “demonstrates how local action can solve the climate crisis.”

Hidalgo’s efforts to get cars out of the city saw her implement policies that directly impacted drivers: reducing the number of lanes, drastically cutting speed limits and restricting traffic in the city’s center to residents. Last week, she asked the French state to authorize a total ban on SUVs in the city.

While those measures have been popular with many city dwellers, they’ve angered swaths of commuters who live outside the city, as well as conservative Parisians.

When Hidalgo ran for reelection in 2020, she won handily. But she crashed out during her 2022 presidential run, receiving just 1.75 percent of the vote, the worst-ever result for a Socialist Party candidate.

She told Le Monde that she would not run for president during the next election. 

Hidalgo’s exit marks the end of an era for the French capital: The 65-year-old has been at the heart of Parisian politics since the turn of the century, serving as her predecessor Bertrand Delanoë’s deputy mayor from 2001, before winning control of city hall in 2014.

Several would-be successors to Hidalgo from the centrist and right-wing political camps have already emerged.

Hidalgo’s most prominent adversary in city politics is current Culture Minister Rachida Dati. Both known for their pugnacious attitudes, Dati and Hidalgo have clashed repeatedly over the past decade, fueling one of the most well-known rivalries in contemporary French politics. 

Dati hopes to unite pro-Macron centrists and conservatives behind her bid but faces potential challenges.

Anthony Lattier contributed to this report.