New Secretary General
Kevin Kühnert – from a former party rebel to the “guardian and driver” of the SPD
He has always pushed the SPD, now he is officially responsible for it: Ex-Juso boss Kevin Kühnert is the party’s new general secretary
© Hannibal Hanschke / AFP
It has been four years since Kevin Kühnert tried in vain to prevent a new grand coalition. At that time he was a rebel and annoyed the established ones in the SPD. Now, as Secretary General, he becomes the chief salesman of a Chancellor’s party.
Four years ago he was the SPD party rebel, which tried – in vain – to prevent the re-launch of the grand coalition with the CDU and CSU. This Saturday, Kevin Kühnert was elected the new Secretary General at the SPD party congress with 77.8 percent of the vote. He is taking the side of the new chairman duo Saskia Esken and Lars Klingbeil. In this trio, the predominance of the party left remains.
Kevin Kühnert was Juso Chairman from 2017 to 2021
“The party is the head and heart of the social democratic movement,” said Kühnert in his application speech, emphasizing the importance it attaches to the federal government now led by SPD man Olaf Scholz. “For us as the SPD, the parliamentary group and government are our hands that can shape and change reality with skill and ability,” he continued.
The now 32-year-old Kühnert headed the Jusos from the end of 2017 to the beginning of 2021. His greatest success was the support campaign for the duo Esken and Norbert Walter-Borjans, who prevailed against Klara Geywitz and the current Chancellor Olaf Scholz, also thanks to the support of the party youth in 2019 in the struggle for party leadership. Kühnert himself was promoted to party vice at that time.
He has obviously made his peace with Scholz. At the party congress, the new general secretary warned against “grotesque caricatures” according to which the party leadership or Jusos wanted to “keep the new chancellor on a short leash”.
“Party’s lawyer”
Rather, as Secretary General, he wanted to be “the party’s advocate, guardian and driver of its program and communicator to a democratic public”, emphasized Kühnert in his application speech. However, he also named issues and conflicts on which the party should continue to work, such as filling out the term “right to work” and the definition of a “land policy oriented towards the common good”.
Kühnert had previously said that the debates at the “Ampel” could easily turn out to be a bit more controversial than in the “Groko” times. In the federal election campaign, the former Juso boss – like Esken and Walter-Borjans – loyally supported the party right wing Scholz.
Tempelhof-Schönefeld constituency
During the coalition negotiations, he even pointed out similarities with the ideologically distant young liberals, for example on issues such as lowering the voting age or student loans. Otherwise it had been quite different. Shortly before the election, Kühnert hardly gave a good hair to FDP leader Christian Lindner, whom he dismissed as “Luftikus” at the time.
In the federal election, Kühnert prevailed as a direct candidate in the Berlin constituency of Tempelhof-Schönefeld. The office of SPD general secretary became vacant because incumbent Klingbeil was elected party leader on Saturday.
Once as Juso boss, Kühnert made headlines with demands for the socialization of large corporations such as the car company BMW. He saw the outrage that he himself triggered in parts of the SPD primarily as evidence that he had done something right. At the latest since his election as party vice in 2019, he has been more cautious with such advances.
SPD student intern
Kühnert has been active in the SPD for half his life. Born on July 1, 1989 in Berlin, he completed a student internship as a teenager in an SPD district office. After joining the party, he continuously expanded his commitment – as state chairman of the Berlin Jusos, employee of a member of the Berlin House of Representatives and as a district councilor in Tempelhof-Schöneberg.
Kühnert’s previously unfinished degree in political science had to take a back seat. When there is time in addition to his various offices, the 32-year-old likes to devote himself to sport, among other things he is a fan of Arminia Bielefeld.