La France Insoumise (LFI) has won its first two seats in the French Senate, securing victories in the departments of Haute-Garonne and the Rhône. In Haute-Garonne, Marc Péré’s list was elected in the second round with 13.75% of the votes, finishing behind Pierre Medevielle’s list (Union république et territoires), which received 31.61%, and the list of Thierry Suaud, an elected member of the Socialist Party (PS), who got 25.56% of the votes. In the Rhône, Gabriel Amard, who is the son-in-law of LFI leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, won a seat with 10.09% of the votes. Although LFI has had recent successes in municipal elections, where it captured several cities such as Roubaix, Creil, and Saint-Denis, its focus on local politics did not translate into success in the senatorial elections. Stéphane Vernay, deputy editor-in-chief of Ouest France, noted that the party’s lack of a strong local presence made it difficult to win Senate seats. He suggested that LFI would not have senators until the next renewal of half the Senate in three years. To form a Senate group, LFI needs at least 10 senators. The two new senators will need to join an existing group, but ecologist senator Yannick Jadot has refused to include them in the ecologist group. Jadot stated that LFI members “do not have their place in the ecologist group,” arguing that while they may share some left-wing positions, they differ on several key issues, including their stance on Europe, the Chinese Communist Party, and their views on Russia and Ukraine. He questioned whether these positions align with being on the left. The ecologist group is expected to meet next weekend to make an official decision on whether to accept the LFI senators. For now, the group affiliation of the two new LFI senators remains uncertain.