Bundestag election campaign: SPD wants to conquer the East

The SPD feels inspired by the latest polls. But it is particularly difficult for the party in large parts of East Germany: it is far from the status of a people’s party. That should change now.

The SPD parliamentary group manager Carsten Schneider is in the shooting position at the biathlon shooting range in Oberhof in Thuringia. He is guided by the former Olympic champion, world champion and national coach Frank Ullrich. Aim the rifle, release the safety catch and shoot. Schneider’s first shot is a hit – to his and Ullrich’s delight.

The former biathlon star is not here by chance: He is running as a direct candidate for the SPD in constituency 196 in southern Thuringia. Ullrich is known and popular in the area – and new to the SPD. A later lateral entry for the still sporty 63-year-old in an outdoor jacket and baseball cap. “I’m from Thuringia, I grew up here,” says Ullrich, emphasizing his ties to his homeland. But he is worried about the division in society. It shouldn’t go on like this. “We have to get together a lot more, talk to each other and set appropriate accents.”

Ullrich takes on Hans-Georg Maaßen, the former head of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, who was brought in by the local union as a direct candidate from the Lower Rhine. As an emphatically conservative, Maassen marks the opposite pole to the Merkel CDU, for example when it comes to evaluating refugee policy. This is not only well received by the CDU in southern Thuringia.

SPD often single-digit in state elections in eastern countries

This mood also sheds light on the challenges for the SPD in large parts of East Germany: In Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt, the party was only single-digit in the last state elections. Small party instead of people’s party, far behind the AfD in all three countries.

Now SPD top candidate Olaf Scholz wants to become the next Federal Chancellor. But for this the party must also score points in the East, be closer to the people, for example when it comes to the traffic turnaround, says Ullrich: “Everyone should be taken into account and taken along.” Changes need a sense of proportion, especially in rural areas. “If you have to commute here and there is no good rail infrastructure, it’s a completely different situation than in Berlin, for example. We have to live up to that.”

Ullrich also says that a health minister should come from the health sector. And from his point of view, a defense minister should have had a rifle in his hand. With such sentences he is likely to encounter many contradictions in Berlin SPD committees. Group manager Carsten Schneider stands on the biathlon shooting range next to Ullrich and says that he would answer some questions differently. But the SPD is a diverse party.

“A lot is possible”

In the last federal election in 2017, the SPD only won a single constituency in East Germany outside of Berlin. Namely the constituency 61 in Potsdam and the surrounding area. Manja Schüle then had a name in the Eastern SPD, was appointed to the cabinet by the re-elected Brandenburg Prime Minister Dietmar Woidke in 2019 as Minister for Science, Research and Culture.

On the sidelines of a visit by Chancellor candidate Olaf Scholz, Schüle also emphasizes her roots, explaining with a sprinkled Brandenburg dialect that she knows what everyday worries people in the prefabricated housing estates of Potsdam have. The Berlin bacon belt is growing, “and people are afraid that they will not get an affordable three- or four-room apartment if they want to start a family.” You have to take that seriously. In addition, more daycare centers are needed. “It is great news that many children are finally being born again,” says the 45-year-old. “But that also means building daycare centers and schools.”

Being close, taking care, not being loyal, but looking positively forward – the SPD wants to score points in the East with this image. Schüle is confident that her party will win significantly more than just one constituency between the Baltic Sea and the Ore Mountains this time. In Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Saxony-Anhalt in particular, a lot is possible.

SPD on the rise

Scholz wants to win constituency 61 in Potsdam and the surrounding area for the SPD. There he competes against the Chancellor candidate of the Green Annalena Baerbock. Both are of course campaigning nationwide, but when Scholz is out and about in Brandenburg, he tries above all to emphasize economic competence, visits a cement plant, a technology park and a family business in one day.

Scholz emphasizes again and again that Germany as an industrial location should be converted in a climate-friendly way through innovation and engineering in order to remain competitive in the future. Scholz refers, for example, to the Tesla plant that is currently being built: “The first factory that will soon build completely electric cars is in the east.” In addition, there are battery factories and projects for hydrogen technology, says Scholz. “Something is happening here and we want to use that now.”

Scholz and the SPD feel inspired by the latest polls. According to the new one ARD Germany trend The SPD is now with 19 percent in front of the Greens in second place – behind the Union, which would currently come to 23 percent. And according to this current mood, Scholz want to see significantly more citizens in the Chancellery than competitors Armin Laschet and Annalena Baerbock.

Can Scholz convince the people in the east?

For a long time it looked as if the SPD could not benefit from Scholz’s high popularity. But that is changing now, says SPD parliamentary group leader Schneider, who comes from Thuringia. He believes that the Scholz factor can also make the difference in the East: “Olaf Scholz is very popular with the people here and that is why they will also vote for the SPD.” Schneider predicts that the party will get more than 20 percent of the vote.

In the 196 constituency in southern Thuringia, polls indicate a close race between Frank Ullrich and Hans-Georg Maaßen. Four years ago, the CDU candidate Mark Hauptmann had clearly won, the SPD candidate only came fourth with around 13 percent. Ullrich, the former Olympic champion, sees things as athletic. Even if the SPD is currently on a run – what counts is the home straight.