Madrid regional president Isabel Díaz Ayuso launched her regional election campaign on Thursday by attacking the Spanish prime minister and targeting Begoña Gómez.
“Sánchez, prisoner of his obsessions, had bought public television to watch me all the time,” Ayuso told supporters in Madrid. “I think Begoña had gotten so jealous that they brought her out tonight at a rally.”
The campaign kickoff on Thursday sets the stage for the upcoming regional vote scheduled for November 29. The opening event featured speeches from Madrid mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida, national lawmaker Cayetana Álvarez de Toledo, and Senate president Pedro Rollán.
During her speech, Ayuso referenced Gómez’s appearance earlier that evening at a Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) event, where the prime minister’s wife took the floor to say, “Thank you for giving me the breath to continue.”
“Now she will be able to teach classes on managing saunas with a happy ending,” Ayuso said of Gómez during the rally.
Alfonso Serrano, the secretary general of the People’s Party (PP) in Madrid, opened the evening by addressing a group of striking teachers protesting outside the venue. The educators demanded talks with regional education head Mercedes Zarzalejo as education strikes continue.
Serrano dismissed the demonstration with irony, telling attendees that if any protester had slipped inside, now was the time to speak. He added that if they wanted to make a show, they could wait, after which the organizing team would invite them to leave for a rally hosted by Más Madrid or the PSOE.
As Ayuso delivered her closing remarks, the protesting teachers interrupted the event. “It’s been seven years like this, I already have experience,” Ayuso said, dismissing the disruption and repeating previous criticisms that the striking educators care more about climbing political ladders than public education.
Earlier in the evening, Almeida urged voters not to grow complacent. He called on supporters to count every vote in the ballot boxes, warning that the referee would not be neutral and describing the PP as the best shield against polarization.
Álvarez de Toledo used her turn at the podium to back the National Police following heavy crackdowns on protesters during recent general strikes. She said that officers “defended workers better than the unions,” an assertion that Ayuso subsequently echoed from the stage.
