Do we like them?

Do we like Isabel Díaz Ayuso?

Our score: 3 out of 10. A government she leads cut back trans and LGBTQ+ protections, and a penthouse row is live, with little verified good to set against it.

Ayuso was born in Madrid in 1978, studied journalism at the Complutense University and worked in institutional communication and campaigns before office. She came up through the People's Party under Esperanza Aguirre and Cristina Cifuentes, and was picked as the Madrid candidate in 2019. She won an absolute majority in 2023.

Her brand is “Madrid es libertad”. During the pandemic she resisted strict lockdowns and kept businesses open, and the word “ayusismo” was coined for her style. She also forced out party leader Pablo Casado in 2022, which made her the most powerful regional figure on Spain's right. Opponents say she thrives on polarisation, and her record on care homes and public health services is fiercely contested.

On the harm check, the big mark is the December 2023 rewrite of Madrid's trans and LGBTQ+ laws, passed by her party's majority. It replaced “trans people” and “gender identity” with “transsexuals” and “transsexuality”, which activists call archaic and demeaning. It dropped penalties for discriminating against workers over gender identity, and required a paediatrician and psychologist or psychiatrist check before minors start hormones. A PP deputy defended it as stopping “social engineering”, and Vox backed it.

It isn't one-note, though. In June 2026 she told Más Madrid to stop speaking “por todos los homosexuales”, noting some gay people are believers and some are bullfighting fans. That's her answer to the left, not a policy win for queer people, but it shows she isn't running a pure Vox script. We found no sign of her backing Vox's push to repeal the laws, and the verdict stays mixed rather than a clean pass or fail.

The Mexico trip in May 2026 went badly. Her remarks about Hernán Cortés and Spanish heritage drew accusations of colonial revisionism, she clashed with Claudia Sheinbaum's government, and part of the tour was cancelled. In February she announced from Mar-a-Lago that Madrid's International Medal would go to the United States, and ministers on the left called it sucking up to power. Where you land depends on whether you see that as respect for a nation or cosying up to Trump.

Then the penthouse. El País revealed on 29 July that Madrid's government had bought a luxury Chamberí flat for 6.3 million euros through Planifica Madrid. The first explanation was a temporary office, but the flat was reportedly residential only. The PSOE took it to court, and Más Madrid is pushing in the Assembly. Ayuso says she never needed or asked for it. Even PP voices and ABC and El Mundo editorials criticised the operation.