PARIS — Marine Le Pen’s first campaign stop in western France on Wednesday revealed a major clue on how she plans to win over voters long skeptical of the far right: Keep her charming, 30-year-old protégé attached at the hip.
Le Pen’s thinking is that Jordan Bardella’s youth appeal, comms skills and history of outreach to the business elite can help widen the appeal of their party, the National Rally, and compensate for her weaknesses. After trying — and failing — three times to reach the Elysée Palace, Le Pen has struggled to articulate what will be different about her platform this time around, and how she will appeal to voters outside her core electorate.
Keeping Bardella this close, however, is either a stroke of genius or a sign of desperation.
Bardella has hardly left Le Pen’s side since an appeals court on Tuesday upheld her guilty verdict for embezzling European Parliament funds and sentenced her to a year of house arrest — but, in a twist, shaved enough time off a lower court’s electoral ban that she’ll be able to run for president in 2027.
Le Pen and Bardella visited the mid-sized town of La Flèche on Wednesday, where they shook hands, took selfies and answered questions about their joint campaign. Le Pen was all smiles and fielded most of the questions, while Bardella, more stone-faced, appeared to be adjusting to his new role as wingman.
Similar scenes played out Tuesday.
As Le Pen traveled from the National Rally’s base of operations to the headquarters of the French broadcaster TF1, Bardella appeared to be the only one in the car with her, apart from the driver.
After her primetime interview — during which she announced her candidacy and that she will appeal Tuesday’s verdict, nullifying her house arrest until France’s highest court can rule on the case — the telegenic, TikTok-literate member of the European Parliament then traveled with Le Pen back to party headquarters without saying a word.
Le Pen and Bardella have for months sold themselves as a package deal, with her running for president and him being primed for the role of prime minister. In her Tuesday interview, the 57-year-old called the pairing “a winning ticket” that is “solid, strengthened by its beliefs, and used to working together.”
But the idea of a ticket is hardly a French tradition. The country’s presidency is one of the most powerful offices in the world, concentrating sweeping executive authority and unparalleled oversight of foreign affairs in a single position.
“The ticket is a more familiar concept in the United States, but I think it’s a good idea. We’ll know who could become the next prime minister. It’s healthier for our democracy,” said National Rally MP Philippe Ballard.
But he also admitted it wasn’t a relationship of equals.
“If Marine Le Pen wins the election, they won’t have the same jobs, she will have an overarching view, he will be in charge of implementing it,” he added.
The National Rally’s opponents, particularly on the right, feared that if Le Pen had been knocked out of the race and Bardella ran in her place, he might eat into their electorate. But they don’t feel quite the same about the Le Pen-Bardella ticket.
“We don’t vote for tickets here, this is not the U.S.,” said a conservative Les Républicains adviser who, like others quoted here, was granted anonymity to speak candidly.
“It’s a bet. It’s a good idea that as a candidate, she keeps him close, but she’ll have to agree to give him some space and I’m not sure that’s her way.”
A calculated partnership
It could easily have played out differently.
Le Pen could have abruptly sidelined Bardella after weeks of speculation that he would inevitably be their party’s candidate, given the long odds of a successful appeal. There were also signs that he was starting to develop his own ideas for the party.
For Bruno Cautrès, a political scientist at Sciences Po, the pairing makes obvious strategic sense.
“Theoretically the casting has a lot of advantages,” said Cautrès. “Man and woman, senior and junior, she has a long party history, he’s had a lightning-quick career … in terms of political communication, it opens up possibilities, they can speak to different electorates.”
But that’s only if the differences in what the two candidates say aren’t too glaring, Cautrès warned, something rivals will pounce on.
“If they are completely contradictory, we will expose [that],” said center-right Horizons MEP Nathalie Loiseau, who supports her party’s candidate, Edouard Philippe.
There are some issues where Le Pen won’t be able to have it both ways. She has stood firmly behind her commitment to reverse President Emmanuel Macron’s flagship pension reform, for instance, while Bardella has hinted at a more flexible approach that could win over more moderate voters on the right.
Bardella’s other role
Bardella also helps to soften Le Pen’s image at a moment when her legal troubles threaten to dominate the campaign.
In going ahead with her candidacy despite having lost her appeal this week, and leaning into a combative approach reminiscent of U.S. President Donald Trump, Le Pen is doubling down on the populist, demagogic tradition of her party. Having Bardella, who offers a more conventional image, by her side has become more necessary than ever.
Bardella’s squeaky-clean image will come in handy, but it won’t be easy for the duo to move on from Le Pen’s courtroom drama.
Her appeal of Tuesday’s embezzlement conviction means Le Pen will be campaigning with a decision looming from France’s top court before the presidential election. Bardella also faces his own legal troubles.
Her allies have sought to turn the conviction into a tale of resilience. National Rally MP Sébastien Chenu likened Le Pen to the persecuted hero of Alexandre Dumas’ “The Count of Monte Cristo.”
“Resurrected a hundred times, liberated a hundred times and escaped a hundred times,” Chenu said on radio station France Inter.
Initial polling seems to support that thesis. An Ifop survey conducted after Le Pen announced her candidacy showed her comfortably advancing to the runoff and suggested she would defeat Philippe with 54 percent of the vote.
But for Le Pen’s opponents, that story is unlikely to wash beyond her core electorate.
According to the conservative adviser quoted above, Le Pen, as the headline candidate, will still struggle to attract middle-class voters who lean right and still associate her with her Holocaust-downplaying father, Jean-Marie.
“Bardella had brought a new lease of life, they won’t vote for the name Le Pen. They’ve seen her before,” he added.
Campaigning under the shadow of an embezzlement conviction may give them another reason to stay away.
Marion Solletty and Sarah Paillou contributed to this report.
