2026 Hampshire and the Solent mayoral election

The 2026 Hampshire and the Solent mayoral election is due to be held on 7 May 2026 to elect the first mayor of Hampshire and the Solent.

Candidates

So far only the Conservative Party has named their candidate, with prospective candidates having already started campaigning for other parties' nominations.

Conservative Party

Donna Jones was selected in August 2025 in what was described as a "competitive process". ^{[1] [2]}

Name	Home Town	Experience	Announcement	Outcome of Campaign
Donna Jones	Portsmouth	Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, Former Leader of Portsmouth City Council	March 2025 [3]	Selected August 2025 [1] [2]
Ranil Jayawardena	Bramley	Former Member of Parliament for North East Hampshire, Former Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs	July 2025 [4]	Not selected

Labour Party

Name	Home Town	Experience	Announcement	Outcome of Campaign
Lorna Fielker	Southampton	Former Leader of Southampton City Council	May 2025 [5]

Liberal Democrats

Name	Home Town	Experience	Announcement	Outcome of Campaign
Ben Dowling (campaign website)	Portsmouth	Former Councillor, Portsmouth City Council, Currently Deputy-Ceo, Unloc	July 2025 [6]
Jack Davies	New Forest	Councillor, New Forest District Council	May 2025 [7]
Martin Tod (campaign website)	Winchester	Leader of Winchester City Council	July 2025 [8]

References

1. "Donna Jones named as Conservative party candidate for mayor of Hampshire". The News. 2025-08-03. Retrieved 2025-08-03.
2. "Donna Jones selected as Conservative candidate for new Hampshire mayor". Hampshire Chronicle. 2025-08-02. Retrieved 2025-08-03.
3. Hudson, Emily (13 March 2025). "Police and crime commissioner to run for mayor". BBC. Retrieved 25 May 2025.
4. "Mayor Paul Bristow backs Ranil for Hampshire".
5. Lewis, Jason. "Southampton City Council leader launches bid to become Hampshire mayor". Dailty Echo. Daily Echo.
6. Dowling, Ben. bendowling.org.uk. Ben Dowling https://www.bendowling.org.uk.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
7. Davies, Jack. Facebook. Jack Davies https://www.facebook.com/jackdaviesld/photos/-announcement-im-putting-my-name-in-the-hat-to-be-the-liberal-democrat-candidate/1095133352433004/?_rdr.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
8. "Martin for More – Your choice for Mayor of Hampshire and the Solent" . Retrieved 2025-07-14.