PARIS — In Marine Le Pen’s political world, family has a habit of finding its way back to the center of power. That could now matter more than ever for Jordan Bardella. The 31-year-old president of the far-right National Rally is battling allegations that he exchanged antisemitic messages as a young activist — accusations he has dismissed as “blatant falsehoods.” The controversy comes at an awkward moment for a party Le Pen has spent years trying to distance from the antisemitism associated with its past.
Le Pen has so far backed Bardella, offering her protégé an emphatic public defense. But Bardella’s difficulties inside the party predate the allegations — and the latest controversy now threatens to amplify them. His standing inside the National Rally had already grown precarious, with Le Pen drawing relatives and longtime loyalists closer as she prepares for next year’s presidential election.
Le Pen’s 27-year-old niece Nolwenn Olivier, Bardella’s former girlfriend, has been promoted to communications director. Another niece, Marion Maréchal, who broke with the party during the last presidential election, is back in favor and expected to play a frontline role. And Le Pen’s own brother-in-law, Philippe Olivier, an unofficial chief adviser, is taking part in many top campaign meetings.
At the same time, several figures associated with Bardella have been sidelined, passed over for promotion, or even ejected from the party. Once touted as a possible replacement for Le Pen, Bardella was not invited to speak at a recent National Rally parliamentary gathering, despite being party president and Le Pen’s presumptive choice for prime minister. There is no indication Le Pen is preparing to cast Bardella aside.
And yet, she has shown before that protecting the party can trump even the closest personal ties. In 2015, amid another controversy over antisemitic remarks, she backed the expulsion of the party’s founder — her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen. That history leaves Bardella with little room for error as Marine Le Pen prepares for her fourth attempt at the presidency — and increasingly surrounds herself with people whose loyalty she has little reason to question.
Florian Philippot, once Le Pen’s right-hand man before abruptly leaving the party after the 2017 election, said some elements of Bardella’s treatment felt familiar. That Le Pen’s family would play a prominent role in her campaign was evident from the moment a court cleared the way for her on July 7 to run for office. The next day she headed to La Flèche for her first campaign stop.
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