The National Rally (RN), France's largest far-right party, is seeking to make a significant institutional move by securing a group in the Senate during the upcoming senatorial elections on Sunday, September 27. Led by Marine Le Pen, the party currently holds three Senate seats and aims to win at least seven more. This would bring its total to 10 and allow it to form its first-ever formal group in the upper house of Parliament. This development is particularly notable as it comes seven months before the presidential election, offering the party a stronger platform to influence national politics. The RN is focusing its efforts on rural areas, where it has historically found strong support. The party is leveraging its alliance with Eric Ciotti, who leads the Union of the Right for the Republic (UDR), and is also exploring potential alliances with other right-wing factions. The RN is fielding candidates in nearly all constituencies, leaving only a few to UDR. The campaign has been meticulously organized, with the party's Paris headquarters conducting regular meetings and vetting candidates through a national investment commission. A key part of the RN's strategy involves emphasizing the role of local elected officials, such as mayors and municipal councilors. The party is running an open list that includes unlabelled mayors—those who are not affiliated with any specific political party. In the Sarthe region, for example, Romain Lemoigne, the new RN mayor of La Flèche, is listed on the senatorial ballot behind Marie-Caroline Le Pen, the sister of Marine Le Pen, and ahead of Virginie de Gaulle, an unlabelled mayor from a Sarthe village. Ludovic Pajot, the campaign director for the RN, highlights that many rural mayors feel frustrated and that the party is targeting these areas and unlabelled mayors, where it has the most potential for gaining votes. The RN is also relying on its alliance with Eric Ciotti to secure between four and six additional Senate seats. Ciotti, who joined the RN in 2024 after leading the Republicans, is running candidates in several regions, including the Alpes-Maritimes and Haute-Savoie. An official noted that having UDR members in the Senate would make it easier for the RN to attract senators from the Republicans (LR), as the presence of UDR members would be less off-putting. Forming a Senate group would give the RN more resources, visibility, and influence in shaping legislation. It would also help the party appear more like a governing party, present in both chambers of Parliament, and less of an outlier. The upcoming election also serves as a stepping stone for some candidates who will later campaign in the legislative elections.