Long tables were lined up for a "succulent meal," preceded by an afternoon of dancing: On October 8, 2023, the senior citizens of the north-eastern French town of Stiring-Wendel were having a banquet. Weaving between the plastic chairs was a well-dressed man in his thirties, with a trimmed goatee and a side part, who could have been their grandson – but who happened to be a member of parliament. He wore a tie as pink as the paper napkins on the tables, as well as a reassuring smile. "When I walk into a room, it's a bit of a myth buster. Me, a fascist? It doesn't fit with my face, with my behavior, so people change their minds."

Kévin Pfeffer is the town's local Rassemblement National (RN, far-right) MP, and he claimed to be "a big hit with the elders," whereas 10 years ago he wouldn't have dared to hand a leaflet out to pensioners. "We lacked the physical embodiment to win them over. A smile changes people's perceptions, and the status of MP commands respect. Seniors are legitimists; they like to see us at the [parliamentary session of] questions to the government."

The MP and RN party treasurer was not alone, amid the far right, in perceiving the shift amid this demographic, which both votes the most and which has never majoritarily given in to voting for Marine Le Pen. Winning over the older generation has been the far-right party leadership's obsession. They have been expecting the European elections on June 9 to confirm what all the opinion polls have been suggesting since the 2022 legislative elections: The far right, with its MPs and the RN's president, Jordan Bardella, is breaking the barrier to them that had been embodied by the over-65s.

In 2002, the generation that is now retired rallied against RN founder Jean-Marie Le Pen in the same proportions as the rest of the working population. 20 years on, the vote for Marine Le Pen and her party has surged among the 45-65 year-old demographic, but much less so for this cohort: Only 29% of them cast a ballot marked "Le Pen" in the second round of the 2022 presidential election. Yet the over-65 demographic accounts for a third of all voters in France. Indeed, in 2022, these "boomers" guaranteed Emmanuel Macron's victory. They are retired and elderly, and, as political scientist Jérôme Fourquet pointed out in his book La France d'Après ("The France to Come"), "anchored in a system of values" which is hostile to the far right and "trend less likely to be in line with political rhetoric of an outright break" with the status quo.

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