French politician (born 1962)
Rodolphe Thomas (born 8 August 1962) is a French politician and member of the MoDem .[ 1]
Born in Falaise , he moved to the new town of Hérouville-Saint-Clair in 1966, where his parents opened one of the first stores in the city.[ 2]
After one term in the municipal council, sitting on the right-wing opposition benches, he won a surprise victory in the traditionally Socialist town of Hérouville-Saint-Clair 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 (UDF) candidate.
He was politically close to Jean-Louis Borloo , but also a close supporter of UDF leader François Bayrou . However, he supported Nicolas Sarkozy in the second round of the 2007 presidential election and ran for re-election supported by the Presidential Majority and Bayrou's new party, the MoDem . He was, however, defeated by Laurence Dumont (PS).[ 3]
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 for the 2010 regional elections .
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