Les Républicains president Bruno Retailleau visited Nantes on Wednesday evening to support right and center candidate Foulques Chombart de Lauwe in the 2026 municipal elections. The former interior minister emphasized security as the top priority for these polls. Addressing nearly a thousand attendees, he decried the city's security collapse.
Bruno Retailleau, Les Républicains president and former interior minister, was in Nantes on Wednesday evening to rally support for Foulques Chombart de Lauwe, the right and center candidate in the 2026 municipal elections. The city, capital of Pays de la Loire, has been dominated by the left since 1989 and is currently led by socialist Johanna Rolland. Facing a major challenge, Chombart de Lauwe benefits from the unity of the right and center, with Sarah El Hairy, high commissioner for Childhood, as his first running mate.
Greeted with thunderous applause at the Cité des congrès, Retailleau asked for more light to see the faces of the nearly thousand Nantais in attendance. Following speeches by Christelle Morançais, Horizons president of the Pays de la Loire region, and Aurore Bergé, Minister of Equality (Renaissance), he delivered three main messages. "The first of the priorities for these municipals will be security!", he declared, highlighting the security collapse in a city where he studied and worked.
This rally underscores Les Républicains' efforts to strengthen their local foothold ahead of the municipals, seen as a test before the 2027 presidential election. Nantes is a stronghold to capture for the right, amid national dynamics of alliances and local strategies.
