Marine Le Pen brought the far right to France’s front door

PARIS (AP) — For years, Marine Le Pen stood at the gates of power — poised, relentless and rising. She stripped the French far right of its old symbols, sanded down its roughest edges and built in its place a sleek, disciplined machine with the single goal of winning the country's presidency.

In 2022, she came closer than anyone thought possible, winning more than 40% of the vote in the runoff against Emmanuel Macron. The Élysée Palace seemed within reach.

Now her political future may lay in ruins. On Monday, a French court convicted Le Pen of embezzling European Union funds and barred her from holding office for five years. The sentence may have done more than just potentially remove her from the next presidential race. It may have ended the most sustained far-right bid for power in Western Europe since World War II — surpassed only, in outcome, by Italy’s prime minister, Giorgia Meloni.

But the political earthquake Le Pen set in motion will rumble for years to come.

A family inheritance — reforged

Le Pen was born in 1968 into a family already on the fringes of French politics. In 1972, her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, founded the National Front party rooted in racism, antisemitism and a yearning for France's lost empire.

She was just 8 years old when a bomb destroyed the family’s apartment in Paris in what was widely seen as an assassination attempt on her father. No one was seriously hurt, but the blast marked her for life. She has said it gave her a lasting sense that her family was hated, and that they would never be treated like other people.

As a young woman, she studied law, became a defense attorney and learned how to argue her way through hostile rooms. In politics, she didn’t wait her turn. In 2011, she wrested control of the party from her father. In 2015, she expelled him after one of his Holocaust-denying tirades.

She renamed the party the National Rally. She replaced leather-jacketed radicals with tailored blazers and talking points. She talked less about race, more about the French way of life. She warned of “civilizational threats,” called for bans on headscarves and promised to put French families first.

Her tone changed. Her message didn’t.

In one of her sharpest political maneuvers, she sought out a group long despised by her father: the LGBTQ community. Le Pen filled her inner circle with openly gay aides, skipped public protests against same-sex marriage and framed herself as a protector of sexual minorities against “Islamist danger.”

Critics called it “pinkwashing” — a cosmetic tolerance masking deeper hostility. But it worked. A surprising number of gay voters, especially younger ones, started backing her. Many saw strength, clarity and the promise of order in a world spinning too fast.

From the fringe to the front line

She ran for president three times: 2012, 2017 and 2022. Each time, she climbed higher. In her final campaign, she was confident, calm and media savvy. She leaned into her role as a single mother, posed with her cats and repeated her calls for “national priority.” She no longer shocked. She convinced.

Behind her stood a constellation of far-right leaders cheering her on: Hungary’s Viktor Orbán, Italy’s Matteo Salvini, the Netherlands’ Geert Wilders. They saw in her not only an ally, but a leader. Her mix of cultural nationalism, social media fluency and calculated restraint became a blueprint.

“Marine Le Pen posts pictures of her cat, talks about being a mother. But when it comes to policy, there’s no softening,” said Pierre Lefevre, a political consultant in Paris. “It makes extreme positions seem more palatable, even to people who might otherwise be put off.”

When she lost in 2022, she didn’t vanish. She regrouped, stayed present in parliament and prepared for 2027. Polls had her leading. Macron cannot run again.

Then came Monday's verdict.

The fall

The court found that Le Pen had siphoned millions of euros in public funds while serving in the European Parliament, paying party staff with money intended for EU assistants. Prosecutors described it as deliberate and organized. The court agreed.

She was sentenced to two years of house arrest, fined €100,000 ($108,200) and banned from holding public office for five years. She said she would appeal. The house arrest sentence will be suspended during the appeal, but the ban on holding office takes effect immediately.

Her allies erupted in outrage. Orbán declared, “Je suis Marine” — I am Marine. Salvini called the ruling “a declaration of war by Brussels.” In Paris, her supporters called it political persecution. Her opponents fist-pumped in the streets.

A changed political landscape

Even in disgrace, Le Pen remains one of the most consequential political figures of her time. She took a name that once evoked hatred and transformed it into a serious vehicle for national leadership. She made the far right electable. She blurred the line between fringe and power.

Her party, the National Rally, became the largest last year in France’s lower house of parliament. Her handpicked successor, 29-year-old Jordan Bardella, now leads it. He is polished and popular, but he lacks broad political experience and name recognition.

Whether Le Pen returns after her ban, fades into silence or reinvents herself again, her mark is permanent. She forced mainstream rivals to adapt to her language. She turned fear into votes and redefined what was politically possible in a republic once seen as immune to extremism.

She never became president, but she changed the race and the rules.