The socialist mayor of Marmande Joël Hocquelet may have refused to rent a room to Jordan Bardella, but the boss of the National Rally will present himself in conquered territory for his meeting on Sunday November 10 in Tonneins. The neighboring town opened its doors to him and to the 2,000 supporters expected by the Lepéniste party. Which man or woman in politics today could bring together so many people on a Sunday afternoon in Lot-et-Garonne?
It must be said that it has been five years since Jordan Bardella last set foot in the department. An eternity in politics. At the time, the president of the RN had already won the Europeans. With at her side, in second position, a certain Hélène Laporte, who in 2022 became a deputy for Marmandais. Today, Jordan Bardella returns with the RN flag firmly planted in this former left-wing bastion whose walls are crumbling vote after vote. In the last European elections, the RN came first in all the municipalities of the department. As for Hélène Laporte, she narrowly missed her re-election in the first round.
“Today, we have around 500 members who are up to date with their contributions. It’s historic”
“Our ideas benefit from national momentum. But these results can also be explained by work on the ground which is bearing fruit,” believes the Lot-et-Garonnaise MP on the eve of welcoming her champion to her constituency. “I personally respond to all emails addressed to me, I receive everyone at my office, regardless of label. I help people with fiber accessibility problems as well as property tax problems. That’s what local work is all about, and it pays. »
Permanent campaign
Would she be the only one in Lot-et-Garonne to play the direct contact card? Probably not. On the other hand, the RN is perhaps the last party to practice the strategy of permanent campaign, election or not. “For us, door-to-door towing is all year round. We were at the Passage market a few days ago, we just did the Marmande market. Old-fashioned politics speaks to people,” assures Sébastien Delbosq. The departmental delegate of the RN goes further: “The French love to talk politics. So, even if they don't agree with us, they like it, and me first. Today, we are the only ones doing this. »
The regional councilor saw the ranks of the far-right party growing quickly in the department. “There were around a hundred of us in 2017. Today, we have around 500 members up to date with their contributions. It's historic. » Activists quick to tow, to put up posters, to plow these agricultural lands in great pain. With one instruction, do not respond to attacks.
Fabrice Valenduc is one of them. Him, the former technical manager of the Golfech power plant. Thirty-five years of CGT. Coming from a working-class family in the North where everyone was “commie rouge de rouge”. “Today I live in Foulayronnes, in a bourgeois town. But deep down, I'm still pro-league,” says the 65-year-old retiree who voted for Le Pen for the first time in 2017 and who today puts up the posters. “I voted on the left until Hollande. I am for work, not for the social peace that we buy with welfare. The left has abandoned the workers. The proletariat of the future for her is the foreigner,” he asserts while still claiming to be left-wing, “but first of all for my country.”
There is also Philippe Alex. This former Horizons and former supporter of Macronian MP Michel Lauzana joined the RN in the spring. “I was fed up with the discordance between the findings made internally on security and immigration and the public speeches where we don't say what we think. » At 64, the activist is awaiting retirement in a few months to fully commit to Sébastien Delbosq.
Beaujolais Nouveau
These faithful that the RN pampers and trains meet every two months for rather festive meetings. “We’re bringing in a national figure from the party. And then we try to change sectors. » The next reunion will take place at the end of November in Dolmayrac, with the Beaujolais Nouveau festival on the program.
Confident of its strength, the party will open a permanent office in Agen in a few weeks. A headquarters where members can meet outside of electoral campaigns and where propaganda materials will be stored. “We have become a party of activists, not yet a party of local elected officials. But we hope that this will change with the 2026 municipal elections,” warns Sébastien Delbosq.
Apart from the gesture of rebellion by the mayor of Marmande, who received “total support” on Facebook from the Lot-et-Garonnais PS, only the Anti-racist Collective of Tonneinquais is mobilizing to organize a rally, Sunday from noon behind the post office of Tonneins.
