Prior to his political career, Bernard was a member of the Conseil économique et social du Limousin. He ran for and won a seat in the French National Assembly in 1986, representing the department of Haute-Vienne. At the same time, he was also the General Councillor of the . In the 1989 French municipal elections, he ran for Mayor of Limoges, but was defeated by Socialist incumbent Louis Longequeue by 669 votes.
