Florence Portelli (born 23 March 1978 in

Argenteuil Argenteuil () is a Communes of France, commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of Paris. Argenteuil is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise Departments of France, ...

) is a French politician who has been serving as

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

Taverny Taverny () is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Inhabitants are called ''Tabernaciens''. History In 1806 the commune of Taverny merged with the neighboring commune of Saint-Leu, r ...

since 2014. She has also been a regional councillor of

Île-de-France The Île-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centered on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the cou ...

since 2015. A longtime member of The Republicans, Portelli served as

François Fillon François Charles Amand Fillon (; born 4 March 1954) is a French retired politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 2007 to 2012 under President Nicolas Sarkozy. He was the nominee of The Republicans (previously known as the Union ...

's spokeswoman during his presidential election campaign in 2017. She was a candidate for the presidency of The Republicans that year.

Early life and education

Portelli is the daughter of

senator A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or Legislative chamber, chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the Ancient Rome, ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior ...

Hugues Portelli and Marie Bosi. She enrolled at the Panthéon-Assas University where she graduated with a M.A. in

public law Public law is the part of law that governs relations and affairs between legal persons and a government, between different institutions within a state, between different branches of governments, as well as relationships between persons that ...

of the Sorbonne Law School and, later, with a degree of Paris Institute of Criminology and Criminal Law.

Political career

In 2014, Portelli was elected

.. As part of the campaign led by

Valérie Pécresse Valérie Anne Émilie Pécresse (; Birth name, née Roux ; 14 July 1967) is a French politician who has been the President of the Regional Council (France), President of the Regional Council of Île-de-France since 2015. A member of The Republic ...

, she became regional councillor of

in the

2015 elections Africa * 2015 Beninese parliamentary election 26 April 2015 * 2015 Burkinabé general election 29 November 2015 * 2015 Burundian legislative election 29 June 2015 * 2015 Burundian presidential election 21 July 2015 * 2015-16 Central African gene ...

. In 2015, Portelli was appointed as member of the Republicans' political bureau by its chairman

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. In 2021, he was found guilty of having tried to bribe a judge in 2014 to obtain information ...

. and became the party's national spokesperson on cultural affairs.. Having supported

during the 2012 leadership election, Portelli was selected as spokesperson for his 2017 presidential campaign, and later as The Republicans' campaign spokeswoman for the

2017 French legislative election Legislative elections in France, Legislative elections were held in France on 11 and 18 June 2017 (with different dates for voters overseas) to elect the 577 Member of Parliament (France), members of the 15th legislature of the French Fifth Rep ...

, in the team led by François Baroin. Ahead of the Republicans' 2017 leadership elections, Portelli declared her candidacy on 29 August 2017, arguing that she wanted to work "for the right to recover its pride", to "return to activists the place that they should have in the party", and "a refoundation, a democratized functioning, a radical change to statutes and clarification of the ideological line of the party". She excludes any possibility of cooperating with the extreme right, argues for the need to "reinforce" immigration control, and supports the definitive exclusion of LR members of " The Constructives", saying they had "excluded themselves", but invited those who hoped that its creation would propel the right to reform to "to return to the fold," believing them mistaken. In the final vote, she lost against

Laurent Wauquiez Laurent Timothée Marie Wauquiez (; born 12 April 1975) is a French politician who has presided over the Regional Council of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes from 2016 to 2024. He is a member of The Republicans (LR), which he led from 2017 to 2019 follow ...

. In February 2018, Portelli was appointed General secretary of " Libres !", a movement founded by

and affiliated with the Republicans. In 2023, the Republicans' chairman

Éric Ciotti Éric Ciotti ( or , ; born 28 September 1965) is a French politician who led The Republicans (LR) from 2022 to 2024. He has represented Alpes-Maritimes's 1st constituency in the National Assembly since the 2007 legislative election. Once a m ...

appointed Portelli as member of his shadow cabinet and put her in charge of cultural affairs. In the Republicans' 2025 leadership election, Portelli endorsed

to succeed Ciotti as the party's new chair and joined his campaign team.Emmanuel Galiero (11 March 2025)
Présidence des Républicains : Laurent Wauquiez dévoile son équipe et sa stratégie
''

Le Figaro () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It was named after Figaro, a character in several plays by polymath Pierre Beaumarchais, Beaumarchais (1732–1799): ''Le Barbier de Séville'', ''The Guilty Mother, La Mère coupable'', ...

''.

Personal life

Portelli has been playing piano since the age of six and is an avid jazz lover. In 2016, she was elected President of the

Orchestre national d'Île-de-France The Orchestre national d'Île-de-France is a French symphony orchestra with its administrative base in Alfortville. The orchestra, made up of ninety-five permanent musicians, gives around a hundred concerts each season, thus offering Ile-de-France ...

, a French

symphony orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Portelli, Florence 1978 births Living people The Republicans (France) politicians People from Argenteuil Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas University alumni French people of Italian descent Women mayors of places in France Mayors of places in Île-de-France