Jean-Michel Arnaud (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃miʃɛlaʁno]; born 28 April 1966) is a French farmer and politician who has served as the Senator for Hautes-Alpes since 2020. A member of The Centrists (LC), he sits with the Centrist Union group in the Senate. From 2001 to 2020, Arnaud served as mayor of Tallard.

Career

In the 2020 election, running under the miscellaneous centre (DVC) banner, he defeated outgoing Senator Patricia Morhet-Richaud of The Republicans (LR) by nine votes to represent Hautes-Alpes in the Senate. Arnaud had previously run in 2014, placing second in the first round behind Jean-Yves Dusserre and withdrawing ahead of the second round.

Locally, Arnaud previously served as the member of the General Council of Hautes-Alpes for the canton of Tallard (1998–2015) and held the mayorship of Tallard, a village south of Gap (2001–2020), as well as the presidency of the Communauté de communes de Tallard-Barcillonnette (2014–2016), before the Communauté d'agglomération Gap-Tallard-Durance was established in 2017 as its successor.