Marine Le Pen Opens Her 2027 Presidential Campaign in Orleans, Invoking Joan of Arc and Promising to Restore Order Within Six Months

French National Rally leader Marine Le Pen formally opened her run for the presidency at the weekend, telling supporters in Orleans they stand at the edge of a national "Renaissance," according to Breitbart News.

The setting. The party held its annual conference in Orleans, the city Joan of Arc liberated nearly six centuries ago. Breitbart says 8,500 people attended and calls Le Pen the frontrunner for 2027. President Emmanuel Macron's second and final term ends in the spring.

What she said. "History is not written in resignation, but in courage," Le Pen said, calling it "the moment of the patriots." She said words such as decline, riots, chaos and disappearance should not stop the French from standing up for themselves. She said only the "weak, stupid, or cowardly" tell people not to fight for their country.

The platform. Le Pen promised to "restore" the rule of law within six months of taking office and to protect France from mass migration, which she said "overwhelms our cities and now our villages." She pledged lower energy taxes to raise purchasing power while keeping state-run education and healthcare. She said France must turn its back on Islamism and on the far-left France Insoumise party and what she called its "armed wing, the Antifa rioters," and rejected a "punitive" green agenda.

The backers. Her niece Marion Marechal, who left the party in 2022 to back Eric Zemmour, joined her on stage. Eric Ciotti, the Nice mayor who leads the Union of the Right for the Republic, urged Republicans to "leave the Macronist Titanic."

Note for readers: the crowd figure and the framing come from Breitbart, and the piece gives conflicting days for the speech, Saturday and Sunday. The "Antifa" label is Le Pen's, and France Insoumise's response is not included. We covered the Fox investigation into the Orleans congress and the unrest in France.