To illustrate what it means to be mayor and mother, Isabelle Dugelet, a local elected official for thirty years, including two terms as head of the small town of La Gresle (Loire), has an anecdote: “One Sunday, the whole family gathered at home. I was called. There was someone who died in the house, everything had to be arranged. I had to go.” So he warned: “The choice to be elected should be shared by the couple. You should know what to expect. City hall is a full member of the family. But it is also a source of pride for everyone.”
Maïlys remembers the first time she saw her mother, the mayor of Rosis, a Hérault village of nearly 300 inhabitants, behind a microphone, “with everyone listening, clap for him” : “I’m very proud.” When in 2020, he told her he wanted to run for mayor, her daughter, then 9, saw it as an opportunity to encourage new gaming in the village. Then he became a little disappointed: “Suddenly, it changed everything, he had less time with us. I said to myself, if every day was like this…” One night, his mother, a hospital nurse by night and a firefighter by day, found a note on the table: “We never saw you, ma’am.”
Alice (1), 21 years old, confirmed: “There’s always something going on, meetings, inaugurations.” The subject of tension with his mother, the mayor of a rural town in Tarn and a full-time social worker. “He was often absent and we were absent too
