Benoît Mathieu, a 27-year-old engineer, is among the rare few attempting to run for the French presidency without a party, a campaign team or significant resources. Since late March, he has been cycling across France for a year in an attempt to convince 500 mayors to give him their endorsement for the 2027 presidential election.
Mathieu, originally from Villeurbanne and now living in Saône-et-Loire, trained as an agri-food engineer before becoming a contract mathematics teacher. He set off on March 30 along a route already fully planned, stopping at town halls to request meetings, with a particular focus on the many municipalities that have no political affiliation.
He said he looked into the conditions for standing as a candidate and realized only 500 endorsements were required. With close to 26,000 unaffiliated town halls across France, he said, he thought the goal might be achievable.
A critique of the political system
Mathieu said the idea for his campaign came after the 2022 presidential election. He argued that the current workings of French democracy encourage tactical voting and leave many voters feeling unrepresented. He favors a more participatory democracy, with more citizen conventions and greater decentralization.
Although he describes his political sensibility as coming from a broadly left-leaning background, he has refused to join any party. He said parties are very vertical structures, and that he prefers to meet citizens directly and build ideas together with them.
Cycling as a campaign tool
Mathieu chose the bicycle partly for the sporting challenge, but also for what it makes possible. He said people come up to talk to him spontaneously, and that he speaks every day with several people who ask what he is doing. He said the encounters help shape his thinking as much as his platform.
His journey is due to end in mid-March 2027, a few weeks before official candidacies must be filed.
Before then, he plans to travel through every department in mainland France. In Haute-Garonne, he will pass through Revel on August 13 and reach Saint-Gaudens by the end of the month. His stop in Toulouse is scheduled for January, on his way back.
