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This time it should finally work for the CDU in Bremen. For the change of power mission, she and top candidate Imhoff are primarily focusing on two topics – and a tandem.
Frank Imhoff laughs – loud, rough, hearty. Shortly before the start of the round of top candidates at the Bremen Entrepreneurs’ Association, the 54-year-old found a connection to the guests in the front row, and they laughed with him. The approachable, who likes to approach people, this is where the CDU politician lives his image.
Employees say that he has one gift about Imhoff, the current President of the City Council: He can entertain people and interest them in politics that have previously had nothing to do with it. This is a pillar in the CDU election campaign.
First stable, then parliament
The farmer from the small, predominantly conservative Bremen district of Strom has strong ties to his homeland. He has handed over the work on his dairy farm to his children. But every morning he goes to the stable. Check if everything is ok. Then he goes to work.
Imhoff has been President of the Bremen Parliament since 2019. The CDU was allowed to fill the post because it was the strongest faction after the last election. To this day it is disputed that Imhoff, who is committed to non-partisanship through his office, is leading the CDU in the election campaign. He doesn’t let that deter him.
He started with two particularly emotional campaign issues: education and internal security.
More preschool education instead of education fund
Imhoff knows that education is by far the top priority on people’s list of problems. Nobody wants to be at the bottom or hear about the shortage of teachers. He also scores points with female entrepreneurs. The top topic of the evening is the training fund recently approved by the red-green-red Senate. Companies have to pay into it, but only those who employ trainees receive money from the pot. Imhoff clearly rejects this. applause in the hall.
He sees the real misery in the fact that not enough suitable applicants come from the Bremen schools. He demands: sitting down should be possible again and grades from the third grade. In addition, a compulsory pre-school for children with a high need for language support in order to create the same starting conditions as possible for school enrolment. This applies above all to children who do not go to daycare and who do not speak German at home. In some parts of Bremen it is more than 50 percent. He also wants to make it easier for private investors to build daycare centers.
The CDU tandem in Bremen: Frank Imhoff and Wiebke Winter
Election campaign in “tandem” with Wiebke Winter
Imhoff fights alone on the podium next to the other top candidates, but in the election campaign together with Wiebke Winter. The 27-year-old is the future hope of the CDU. She has already stood for the Bundestag as a climate expert – also alongside ex-chancellor candidate Armin Laschet.
The political tandem of Imhoff and Winter is intended to show how diverse the Bremen CDU now thinks and how farsighted it will be far beyond the next four years. Less well-meaning voices claim that Imhoff lacks a clear professional profile. That – and more radiance – should bring the prominent young politician into the election campaign.
Imhoff also warns against underestimating him. That had happened before: “Anyone who does this is making a mistake.” That’s what you hear from his party, which made him the top candidate with 100 percent of the delegate votes.
Relegated behind Mayor Bovenschulte
Imhoff picks up on the fears of many people in Bremen when it comes to the second major campaign issue: According to their own statements, more than 50 percent do not feel safe in Bremen. That is why the CDU man wants to increase the number of police and law enforcement officers and set up a mobile 24-hour guard at the drug hotspot at the main train station. More video cameras in public spaces should also strengthen the sense of security.
As unacademic and close to the citizenry as Imhoff is in publicizing the CDU positions during the election campaign, things were quiet about him beforehand. In fact, he has not made any public policy statements for years. As President of the Parliament, he had to appear neutral, which hardly raises the profile. Not enough people in the country know that he has been a member of the city council for a quarter of a century, including 20 years on the administrative committee for construction, environment and transport. And that is reflected in the polls.
Imhoff’s goal of becoming the strongest force again with the CDU is still within reach. The Christian Democrats are currently three percentage points behind the SPD. But just under a quarter of those eligible to vote would choose Imhoff directly as mayor. Around 60 percent, however, the current SPD mayor Andreas Bovenschulte. And it would be difficult to ignore his popularity during coalition negotiations.