[7] From September 2021, opinion polling for the 2022 presidential election showed a sharp rise in favour of far-right[7] journalist and author Éric Zemmour in the months before he formally became a candidate.

A series of opinion polls suggested that Zemmour might reach the presidential election's second round, competing against incumbent President Emmanuel Macron.

[13] Reconquête was launched on 5 December 2021;[14] at the founding rally held in Villepinte, Seine-Saint-Denis, Zemmour proposed a "reconquest of the greatest country in the world" in front of 15,000 people.

[17] Zemmour and Reconquête's campaign directors for the upcoming elections were announced as Court of Audit magistrate Sarah Knafo and former French Army major general Bertrand de La Chesnais.

[20][21] In December 2021, Joachim Son-Forget, elected to the National Assembly in 2017 for French residents overseas as a La République En Marche!

[35] Other notable people who have been involved around Zemmour's candidacy include former MPs Marion Maréchal,[36] Christine Boutin,[37] Nicolas Dhuicq,[38] Jean-Frédéric Poisson[39] and Jacques Bompard,[40] as well as former MEPs Jean-Yves Le Gallou,[41] Paul-Marie Coûteaux[42] and Bruno Mégret.

A "shadow army" was delegated to join a huge number of Facebook groups and post pro-Zemmour content to raise the candidate's profile as much as possible.

On 12 June 2024, Maréchal was expelled from the party due to calling on voters to support RN candidates in the 2024 snap legislative election.

[53] It advocates for a reduction in immigration numbers, de-Islamisation, security through new deportation legislation, an improvement in public instruction levels with a revision of the collège system, lower taxes for the least prosperous French people, as well as higher economic competitivity.

[58] The party takes a pro-Israel stance, with Zemmour describing the Israel-Hamas war as the "fight of our civilisation", calling for a ban on Hamas's parent organisation, the Muslim Brotherhood, in France, and visiting Israel in solidarity.