On October 1st, **Jean-Luc Mélenchon** made an appearance at the French Senate to congratulate two newly elected senators from his political party, **La France Insoumise (LFI)**. This marked the first time the party had successfully placed elected officials in the Senate, a legislative body that represents France's regions and departments. One of the new senators, **Gabriel Amard**, is also Mélenchon's son-in-law. During the event, Mélenchon acknowledged that while Amard's election was a personal triumph, their family relationship had placed additional pressure on Amard, who emphasized that his success was due to his political work, not his personal ties to Mélenchon. Amard, who was first elected at the age of 24 in Longjumeau—a region historically dominated by right-wing politics—has built a strong reputation through his local political involvement. Mélenchon noted that the election of these "insurgent senators" from LFI signified a shift in the political landscape of France, suggesting that the upcoming presidential election would be a turning point. He also reflected on his earlier years in the Senate, where he served as a socialist from 1986 to 2000 and again from 2004 to 2010. He described past Senate debates as rigorous and intellectually demanding, contrasting them with what he views as a decline in the quality of political discourse in recent times. The October 1st session marked the beginning of the Senate's regular session, with senators gathering for the first time in public since the triennial renewal of their mandates. **Gérard Larcher**, a long-standing senator since 2014, is running for re-election as president of the Senate, supported by the right-wing and centrist majority. Mélenchon, however, criticized the Senate, calling it "the antechamber of eternity," a metaphor suggesting that it is a slow-moving, unchanging institution. He also remarked that Larcher had once been a friendly colleague but had since turned against him. Tensions between Mélenchon and Larcher had grown in late 2023, following Mélenchon's public criticism of journalist **Ruth Elkrief**. This led Larcher to accuse Mélenchon of antisemitism and publicly urged him to "shut up." The incident highlighted the increasing polarization within French political circles and underscored the complex dynamics between different factions in the Senate.