Jordan Bardella: the right-wing Mamdani?

There was a time when the French left turned its nose up at all things American. Too low-brow for them. Not now. The victory of Zohran Mamdani has caused much joie de vivre in left-circles.

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the Gallic Bernie Saunders and the leader of the far-left La France Insoumise party, described his win in the New York mayoral race as “very good news.”

The general secretary of the centre-left Socialist Party, Olivier Faure, posted a smiley face on X above a headline in Le Monde, hailing Mamdani as “the youngest mayor in New York history.”

Mamdani referenced his age during his victory speech in Brooklyn. “The conventional wisdom would tell you that I am far from the perfect candidate,” he proclaimed. “I am young, despite my best efforts to grow older. I am Muslim. I am a Democratic socialist. And most damning of all, I refuse to apologize for any of this.”

There has been no need to apologize to much of the world’s mainstream media. His age and his religion have been a help not a hindrance to Mamdani’s rapid ascension.

Many believe that the victory of Mamdani will ‘galvanize’ the French left. No doubt. But it will also be a boost for Bardella.

A puff-piece in Wednesday’s British Guardian was typical. It praised his youthful vigor, particularly his “savvy social media presence” and the way in which it was “energizing younger voters… who are hungry for generational and ideological change.”

France’s left-wing Liberation newspaper took a similar line, characterizing Mamdani as “the idol of Generation Z” and the hope for a better future in the United States.

Curiously, these newspapers have a different take on another political idol of Generation Z, France’s Jordan Bardella.

The 30-year-old president of Marine Le Pen’s right-wing populist party National Rally is routinely attacked for his age and his reliance on social media. When Mamdani promotes himself and his policies to his three million followers on TikTok he is being “savvy.” When Bardella addresses his 2.2m followers he’s using it as a “propaganda tool.”

For Mamdani, his youth is a virtue but with Bardella it’s a weakness. Last year CNN pointed to his “short career and lack of concrete experience,” while the Guardian depicted him as “too young and inexperienced.”

This week Bardella was forced to defend his age during a television interview, saying his youth does not “discredit” him. The same broadcaster on the same day made no reference to Mamdani’s age when discussing the possibility he was the future of the Democrat Party. The fact he was a little “too left” was perceived to be his only blemish.

France’s international broadcaster, France24, believes that the victory of Mamdani will “galvanize” the French left. No doubt. But it will also be a boost for Bardella.

He has become the face this year of the National Rally, eclipsing the de facto leader of the party, Marine Le Pen. In March she was disqualified from political life for five years after a Paris court ruled she had misused EU funds. Le Pen has appealed her conviction and the outcome will be known next February.

Even if she overturns the sentence, there is a growing belief in France that Le Pen won’t be her party’s candidate in the 2027 presidential election. She has two disadvantages: her economic socialism, which remains a turn off for middle-class voters, and her surname.

There are still a sizeable number of voters, particularly the over 60s, who, while they agree with her about the dangers of mass immigration and Islamism, still can’t bring themselves to cast a ballot for a Le Pen. The anti-Semitism of her father, Jean-Marie, is etched in their memory.

Bardella is different. He does not suffer the sins of his father and he is also more economically liberal. Over the last year he has been courting big business and deftly drawing the distinction between himself and his mentor, Madame Le Pen.

Bardella’s only disadvantage is his age. Or at least it was until this week. But Mamdani has done the Frenchman a favor. Next time Bardella is interrogated by a hostile journalist about his callowness he can simply namecheck the inspiring mayor of New York.

Or is it only left left-wing leaders who are allowed to be young?