Rodolphe Thomas | |
Office: | Mayor of Hérouville-Saint-Clair |
Term Start: | 18 June 2001 |
Predecessor: | François Geindre |
Office2: | Member of the National Assembly for Calvados's 2nd constituency |
Term Start2: | 19 June 2002 |
Term End2: | 20 June 2007 |
Predecessor2: | Louis Mexandeau |
Birth Date: | 8 August 1962 |
Birth Place: | Falaise, Calvados, France |
Party: | MoDem |
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.