Rodolphe Thomas (born 8 August 1962) is a French politician and member of the

MoDem A modulator-demodulator or modem is a computer hardware device that converts data from a digital format into a format suitable for an analog transmission medium such as telephone or radio. A modem transmits data by Modulation#Digital modulati ...

. Born in

Falaise Falaise may refer to: Places * Falaise, Ardennes, France * Falaise, Calvados, France ** The Falaise pocket was the site of a battle in the Second World War * La Falaise, in the Yvelines ''département'', France * The Falaise escarpment in Quebec ...

, he moved to the

new town New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

Hérouville-Saint-Clair Hérouville-Saint-Clair () is a commune in the Calvados department in the Normandy region in northwestern France. It is a suburb of the city of Caen, and lies adjacent to it in a northeasterly direction, along the west side of the Canal de Cae ...

in 1966, where his parents opened one of the first stores in the city. After one term in the municipal council, sitting on the right-wing opposition benches, he won a surprise victory in the traditionally

Socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

town of

in the 2001 local elections, mostly due to the division of the left. He became first vice-president of the Agglomeration community of Caen la Mer. In the 2002 legislative election, he defeated the Socialist incumbent Louis Mexandeau in the Calvados's 2nd constituency as a

Union for French Democracy The Union for French Democracy (french: Union pour la démocratie française, UDF) was a centre to centre-right political party in France. It was founded in 1978 as an electoral alliance to support President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in order to c ...

(UDF) candidate. He was politically close to

Jean-Louis Borloo Jean-Louis Marie Borloo (; born 7 April 1951) is a French politician who served as president of the Union of Democrats and Independents (UDI) from 2012 to 2014. He also was Minister of the Economy, Finance and Employment in 2007 and Minister of ...

, but also a close supporter of UDF leader

François Bayrou François René Jean Lucien Bayrou (; born 25 May 1951) is a French politician who has presided over the Democratic Movement (MoDem) since he founded it in 2007. A centrist, he was a candidate in the 2002, 2007 and 2012 presidential elections. ...

. However, he supported

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...

in the second round of the

2007 presidential election This electoral calendar 2007 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2007 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, although they are not elections. By-elections are not i ...

and ran for re-election supported by the Presidential Majority and Bayrou's new party, the

. He was, however, defeated by

Laurence Dumont Laurence Dumont (born 2 June 1958) is a French politician of the Socialist Party who has been serving as Member of Parliament of the National Assembly from 1997 until 2002 and again between 2007 and 2022, representing the 2nd constituency of Ca ...

(PS).Le MoDem a largement aidé les candidats de gauche
''

Le Point ''Le Point'' () is a French weekly political and news magazine published in Paris. History and profile ''Le Point'' was founded in September 1972 by a group of journalists who had, one year earlier, left the editorial team of '' L'Express'', w ...

'' Following his defeat, he became a closer supporter of Bayrou and ran simultaneously for re-election as Mayor of Hérouville-Saint-Clair in the 2008 municipal elections but also against a PS incumbent in Caen's 6th canton in the cantonal elections. He was re-elected Mayor with over 53% of the votes by the first round, and won his cantonal race in Caen-6 in the runoff. In 2009, he was selected to be the MoDem's candidate in

Lower Normandy Lower Normandy (french: Basse-Normandie, ; nrf, Basse-Normaundie) is a former administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, Lower and Upper Normandy merged becoming one region called Normandy. Geography The region included three departme ...

for the 2010 regional elections.

References

1962 births Living people People from Falaise, Calvados Politicians from Normandy Union for French Democracy politicians Democratic Movement (France) politicians Mayors of places in Normandy Deputies of the 12th National Assembly of the French Fifth Republic {{France-politician-MoDem-stub