Between November 2019 and March 2020, I became involved for the first time in my life in a high stake local political election process , in my home town of Perpignan, France, as a media and public engagement coach for Caroline Forgues, the candidate running for City Hall for the "Alternative Perpignan Ecologique et Solidaire" citizen led movement (Municipalist mouvement). Despite being a small town, the election carried national resonance as it looked likely that the far right National Front party of Marine Le Pen (now called National Rally) would win the city, a first for a city of over 100,000 inhabitants since the 1980's and a litmus test for the party in the perspective of the national presidential election of 2022. This time round I am taking the seat of the interviewee and my friend and colleague Anna Turley is leading this interview, helping me pull out the learnings of this extraordinary political experience from the perspective of media and communication.