A mayoral candidate in the city of Reims, France is promoting a stronger Sister City relationship with Arlington in his campaign.
Éric Quénard is the Socialist Party candidate who will lead a center-left coalition in the 2026 mayor’s race in Reims, one of Arlington’s five sister cities. His campaign reached out to ARLnow to uplift his desire for tighter ties between the two locales.
The relationship between Reims and Arlington “is a proofpoint of the friendship between France and the United States,” Quénard said.
“At a time when the U.S. is celebrating 250 years of American independence and, therefore, 250 years of friendship between America and its oldest ally, France, Arlington and Reims is a chapter in the small history within the greater history that is Franco-American friendship,” he said.
Quénard said one of his goals, if elected, would be to expand educational connections between the two communities:
“Since 2001, the educational aspect of the Reims-Arlington sister cities program has mainly developed through immersion exchanges between high schools. Twenty-five years ago, Marc Chagall High School and the Arlington Public Schools network launched an educational cooperation program. My measure would be to strengthen these high school exchanges by integrating them into colleges and universities. Over the past 15 years, Reims has become a real university hub — exchanges between our post-baccalaureate institutions would take our Sister Cities program to the next level.”
While hoping to expand the relationship, Quénard said existing high-school exchanges will remain vital and welcomed by residents of his city.
“With each visit, Arlingtonians bring cultural value to our city, which, in spirit, has a little piece of America in it with our local American landmarks,” he said, pointing to the American Memorial Hospital, Carnegie Library and Roosevelt High School in Reims.
Quénard is making his second bid for mayor of Reims in France’s municipal elections, slated for March.
In 2020, he finished second to center-right candidate Arnaud Robinet, who won his second six-year term with 66% of the vote in a nine-candidate field.
Quénard finished second with about 12% of the vote in the 2020 election. His effort to unite center-left political parties failed to win the support of France’s Green Party, which ran its own candidate and siphoned about 6% of the overall vote from the coalition of left-leaning parties.
Quénard formally announced his 2026 bid on Nov. 20. The 2026 race likely will be a rerun of 2020, as Robinet is expected to seek re-election. An announcement is anticipated in the coming weeks.
The current mayor is a member of Horizons, a center-right political party founded in 2021 that typically coordinates campaigns with centrist parties.
Quénard said he hopes for a strong coalition in the upcoming election:
“This union is unique in that it includes both historic parties and younger movements on the French political scene. Our alliance is also one of the largest coalitions seen among the various French cities going to the polls in 2026. First and foremost, the union responds to a desire among our voters, who prefer to vote for a united and unifying coalition rather than for individual candidates. Unlike the outgoing mayor, whose camp is divided compared to 2020, the forces of the left are more united than ever in 2026.”
Located about 85 miles northeast of Paris, Reims has a population similar to that of Arlington, but a far longer history that predates the Roman conquest of modern-day France. The Romans knew the city as Durocortorum; its population 2,000 years ago far exceeded that of Paris, which was known in Roman times as Lutetia.
The 12th-century Reims Cathedral and its predecessors hosted the coronations of more than 30 French kings over the course of 1,000 years, from Louis the Pious (a son of Charlemagne) in 816 to Charles X in 1825.
Those crowned there included Charles VII in a 1429 ceremony led in part by the 17-year-old Joan of Arc.
In the 20th century, the city suffered major damage from German shelling during World War I, and a quarter-century later, one of its schoolhouses — now known as Lycee Franklin Roosevelt — was the setting for the 1945 German surrender to Allied forces in World War II.
The Reims area, along with the neighboring community of Epernay, serves as the heart of champagne production, with vineyards and production facilities dotting the landscape.
Reims is one of five Sister Cities to Arlington, along with Aachen, Germany; San Miguel, El Salvador; Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine; and Coyoacan, Mexico (currently dormant).
In addition to Arlington, Reims has formal friendship agreements with Florence, Italy; Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo; Canterbury, England; Salzberg, Austria; Kutná Hora, Czech Republic; and Nagoya, Japan. Like Arlington, it is a Sister City of Aachen, Germany.
Quénard told ARLnow he considers these relations to be a vital component of the post he is seeking.
“The mayor’s role is to defend the local interests of residents and develop the economic attractiveness of the city,” he said. “The Sister Cities program contributes to this double mission: by forging an international relationship with another city around the world, the mayor strengthens its own city’s international influence while offering cultural, economic and educational opportunities to our residents.”
Reims photo via Steve Matthews/Unsplash
