During this spell in the regional legislature, he has served as PSOE spokesperson in the Job Commission, president of the Budget Commission, and as spokesman in the Commission of Transport and Infraestructures. After the forced resignation of Tomás Gómez in February 2015, he became the spokesman of the parliamentary group. After the 2015 election, he became deputy spokesman second to Ángel Gabilondo.[4]
PSOE regional leader in Madrid
In 2017, Franco endorsed Pedro Sánchez in the PSOE primary election campaign, becoming one of Sánchez's most trusted advisors during the campaign.[5] Franco defended the notion that in a federal plurinational state result of a potential reform of the Constitution, Madrid, as one of the entities of that State, in the case it had to be a "nation", so be it, "we should not be scared of the name".[6][7] He contested the September 2017 primary election to the leadership of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party of the Community of Madrid (PSOE-M). He won the process (with a support of the 71% of the voters) and became the new Secretary-General of the organization.[8]
Notes
^From 1995 to 2003 his CV as member of the Assembly of Madrid featured a wrong degree in Mathematics. Corrected from 2003 forward, this caused stir in the media in 2018, as it was revealed in the wider context of the Cifuentes scandal regarding academic titles, and the alleged fraudulent obtention of one of them by the then president of the Community of Madrid, Cristina Cifuentes.[2]