The underrepresentation of women at the forefront of politics continues to prevent democracies from reaching gender equality to this day. Research on women’s access to politics reports significantly lower levels of ambition for political office among women relative to men, but the evidence gathered so far has not dealt with the ambition of women to attain top-level political positions specifically. To what extent does the gender gap in political ambition persist at the front lines of power? Based on data from an original survey administered to around 1,000 Spanish mayors, I provide a thorough analysis of the attitudes and political ambitions of those who reach these top positions. The findings reveal that, the gender gap on political ambition to remain in politics disappears among the political elite. The differences reappear when it comes to their ambition to remain in or leave politics with women more aware of their family responsibilities when deciding whether to leave politics. I further investigate mayors’ patterns of re-election by combining these results with observational data on electoral candidacies. The findings suggest that re-election patterns are skewed in favour of male politicians. The paper thus contributes to the understanding of the mechanisms underlying the underrepresentation of women in top political positions, focusing on women’s motivations to reach and remain in positions of power.