Blanc was The Republicans' candidate for Mayor of Lyon in the 2020 municipal election, in which the list he led placed second in the first round before merging with the list of La République En Marche! (LREM) led by Yann Cucherat for the second round. He was elected to the municipal council for the 3rd arrondissement. On 4 July 2020, he took office as a municipal councillor and group president in the municipal council.
In the 2020 Senate election, he was returned to the French Parliament for Rhône. He later resigned as Wauquiez's deputy. In the Senate, he sits on the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and the Armed Forces.[5]
In late 2021, Blanc resigned from the group presidency in the municipal council of Lyon following favourable comments he made on Éric Zemmour, which displeased members of his group.[6]
Political positions
Blanc is a conservative. He has advocated for a right-wing electoral alliance beyond The Republicans.[7] He has expressed support for Éric Zemmour's agenda-setting ahead of the 2022 presidential election: "The right must tackle certain ideas head on: sovereignty, nationality, decline, immigration, identity, language, all themes that Zemmour makes his stock in trade."[8]
^"Etienne Blanc en aparté" (in French). www.lepoint.fr. 21 April 2011. Membre de la Corporation des étudiants en droit et administrateur de la Société mutuelle des étudiants de la région Rhône-Alpes (Smerra), il s'investit en 1978 dans la campagne du RPR pour les élections législatives de Lyon, au côté de Michel Noir. Jeté dans le Rhône par des militants communistes, il voit ses ardeurs renforcées par ce baptême de l'eau.