“Time for renewal”
Faeser gives up chairmanship of the Hesse SPD
February 29, 2024, 2:59 p.m
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Interior Minister Faeser suffers a devastating defeat as the SPD’s top candidate in Hesse. Now she is drawing conclusions and clearing the way for a new chairman. A candidate has already been chosen.
The incumbent Hessian SPD chairwoman Nancy Faeser will not run again in the new state executive elections in March. “I personally have now decided to give up the state chairmanship at the party conference on March 9th in Frankfurt,” wrote Faeser in a message to the Hessian SPD members, excerpts of which were available. It is “time for a renewal”.
“This should also begin with a new management staff and new ideas,” wrote Faeser, who is also Federal Minister of the Interior. She will always stand by the SPD Hesse when she is needed. Faeser thanked the party for its support during her time as chairwoman. “I am particularly grateful for our strong solidarity after the state elections in October,” she wrote.
On Tuesday, the SPD districts north and south in Hesse had nominated Bundestag member Sören Bartol for the new election in March. The North and South districts form the SPD regional association, of which Faeser has been chairwoman since 2019. The state executive board is to be re-elected at a state party conference on March 9th in Frankfurt am Main.
Sören Bartol – a “doer” and “team player”
According to the districts’ statement, the decision for Bartol was made at a joint meeting on Monday. “At the party conference in March we want to complete the new team of the Hesse SPD consisting of parliamentary group, government and party,” explained the district chairmen from north and south, Kaweh Mansoori and Timon Gremmels. Bartol brings 22 years of parliamentary experience. Both described Bartol as a “doer” and “team player”.
Prime Minister Boris Rhein’s CDU clearly won the state elections in October with 34.6 percent, ahead of the AfD with 18.4 percent and the SPD with 15.1 percent. For the SPD around its top candidate Faeser, it was the worst result ever in Hesse. Rhein then decided to form a coalition with the SPD, which has been in office since January.