The announcement

Pierfrancesco Majorino, the Democratic Party (Pd) group leader in the Lombardy regional council, made his candidacy for mayor of Milan official on the evening of 22 October 2026. He spoke at the Teatro della Quattordicesima in Corvetto, a south-eastern district where he was welfare assessor and where, according to La Stampa, he won the most preference votes. The election for Palazzo Marino is expected in 2027. Speaking to reporters afterwards, he described the moment in personal terms.

“It is a great honour and a great emotion for me to announce that I am running for mayor of Milan.”

What he is proposing

Majorino framed his campaign around the cost of living, housing, work and the climate crisis. He said the centre-left should open a new phase while keeping credit for the last fifteen years under Beppe Sala, and he rejected the idea that he was fixated on breaking with the current administration. Within the first fifteen days, he wants to convene social partners, businesses, universities and research bodies to draft a shared development plan for the city. On housing, he proposed a territorial government that puts first the rights of people who want to stay in Milan while earning 1,500 euros, reduces the weight of real estate funds in planning decisions and raises urbanisation charges by at least 20%. Fanpage reported that he also wants the super-rich who benefit from the flat tax to contribute more. On security, he listed a mix of territorial presence, support for the police, prevention and social inclusion, and he asked the government to deliver the promised 500 state police officers for Milan.

His welfare plan covers home care for lonely and frail residents and a municipal centre to help citizens assert their health rights, particularly against long waiting lists. On climate, he plans to cut urban heat by two degrees by the end of his term.

Primaries and the centre-left field

Majorino said the coalition parties must decide whether to hold primaries, but added that he had always backed them and that they must be held on firm timelines. La Stampa reported that Mario Calabresi has been running on his own since the summer, which forced the Pd figure to move earlier than planned. People who follow the Milan Pd, according to La Stampa, expect the definitive candidate not to be named before February 2027.

Majorino said he had felt Elly Schlein very close to him in recent days and described daily contact and full agreement on being firm against violence. Il Giornale noted that Schlein's absence from Milan had been felt in the days after the recent assaults in the city centre.

Violence in the city centre

Open reported that hundreds of young people from outlying families swept through the city centre on the weekend of 17 and 18 October. Majorino condemned those scenes without ambiguity, but he argued that the response cannot rest on repression alone. He linked the anger in the city to the cost of living and the housing shortage, and he cited New York mayor Zohran Mamdani when describing how Milan pushes workers out of its boundaries. He said that was a point that should keep people awake at night.

“The idea that we need candidates who look to the centre so as not to frighten people is a disaster in the history of the left.”

The rival camps

On the right, the names still under consideration are Silvia Sardone, backed by the Lega, and Matteo Perego di Cremnago, the undersecretary for defence whom Forza Italia is backing. Maurizio Lupi of Noi Moderati, sponsored by Ignazio La Russa, completes the list. La Stampa noted that both coalitions are still working through their choices of candidate.