The rise of Bruno Retailleau, the right's new hope at the head of the Republicans party

The Minister of the Interior won the internal election of the LR with 74.3% of the vote against his opponent Laurent Wauquiez.

After the discreet red carpet of the Senate where he led the LR troops for ten years, just a few months ago, it is now the red carpet that Bruno Retailleau is now walking on the right, having become a key figure in his political family in less than a year. To the point of being the first to call Nicolas Sarkozy to announce his victory against Laurent Wauquiez on Sunday, May 18 , according to information from franceinfo. He, the reserved 64-year-old Vendéen, transformed into the voice of the Republicans within the governments of Michel Barnier and François Bayrou.

In three years, his stature has changed. Since his defeat in the same election in 2022, beaten by Éric Ciotti, who had gone to support the National Rally, the former senator was still considered a man in the shadows, long in the background of other rises, such as that, furtive, of candidate François Fillon in the 2017 presidential election. And, even earlier, in the footsteps of his former mentor, another Vendéen, with whom he has since broken up, the very right-wing Philippe de Villiers and his "Movement for France," the one who gave him a leg up, both literally and figuratively, since Bruno Retailleau, as a teenager, was a horseman in his park, Puy du Fou.

So it's his own rise that's taking place today, thanks obviously to his entry into government. "Hardworking," "conciliatory," "kind," according to those close to him, he has "managed to make an impression," assures a prominent senator at the Interior Ministry, where the former president of Pays de la Loire takes a hard line on security and immigration. "He reconciled our members with victory," enthuses a party official. But internally, according to several LR figures, it's above all his loyalty that is being rewarded. During all these years in the role of second-in-command, in the media shadows, the opponent of same-sex marriage and the abolition of conversion therapy, supported everyone when the ship was rocking. For example, Valérie Pécresse knows how to remember his presence during the 2022 presidential campaign, when others on the right mocked her or turned their backs on her.

Can he remain a minister now? That's the question. For Bruno Retailleau, leaving Place Beauvau is out of the question, as he reiterated after his election. But how can he oppose Macronism while still being part of the current executive? A complicated equation, especially if he wants to enter the presidential race . On the right, some are waiting for him at the turn.