State election in Hesse: Whom AfD, FDP and Left send into the race

A former SPD member, a long-time mayor and a duo: Who are the top people from the AfD, FDP and Left Party for the state elections in Hesse? The short portraits at a glance.

Robert Lambrou, AfD

The business graduate is running for the AfD for the third time, this time in first place on the list. Before his career with the AfD, the 56-year-old was a member of the SPD. The Wiesbaden native comes from a German-Greek family. In 2013 he entered the Hessian state parliament for the first time for the AfD. He has been one of the party’s two state chairmen since 2017 and chairman of the state parliamentary group since 2019.

Lambrou is considered to be part of the “moderate” wing of the AfD. He likes to use the label “bourgeois-conservative” for himself and his party. This has not stopped him from leading the regional association since November 2022 together with Andreas Lichert, who is said to have connections to the right-wing extremist “identitarian movement” observed by the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution.

Lambrou’s political enemy is the Greens, both in the state and at the federal level. He aggressively made a coalition offer to the CDU. Because of the proximity of the content, cooperation between the Union and the AfD is inevitable sooner or later.

The AfD parliamentary group in the state parliament has been noticed in recent months due to internal disputes, several members have been excluded – others left on their own. However, according to surveys, the party could make gains in the election on October 8th. For Lambrou, it doesn’t matter whether the AfD is elected out of protest or conviction.

Stefan Naas, FDP

FDP top candidate Stefan Naas is still relatively new to state politics. He has only been a member of the state parliament since 2019 and, among other things, is the economic policy spokesman for his parliamentary group. Previously, he was primarily active in local politics, which he describes as the “most beautiful form of politics”. The 49-year-old was mayor of Steinbach am Taunus for nine years.

With Naas as the top candidate for the state elections, the FDP wanted to return to its economically liberal core. His CV fits this: first an apprenticeship in banking, then studying law with a doctorate, after which he worked, among other things, in the tax office in Frankfurt am Main and in the Hessian Ministry of Economic Affairs.

During the election campaign, the liberal described himself as the “anti-Al-Wazir” and thus positioned himself against the incumbent Green economics minister, whom he would like to replace. Naas sees himself as a caretaker who wants to bring the Hessian economy into shape with keywords such as reducing bureaucracy, digital expansion and openness to technology.

Naas would prefer to govern with the CDU, or additionally with the SPD in a so-called German coalition. But the FDP campaign has not yet taken off, and Naas sometimes seems insecure in interviews. His biggest challenge in the election is to keep the FDP above the five percent threshold.

Elisabeth Kula and Jan Schalauske, The Left

The Left is running with a top duo: Elisabeth Kula and Jan Schalauske. Both studied political science in Marburg and were also active in local politics there. The 33-year-old Kula has only been a member of the state parliament since 2019 and has quickly risen in the left-wing parliamentary group.

The 42-year-old Schalauske came third in the mayoral election in Marburg in 2015 and has been a member of the Hesse state parliament since 2017. A year later, he ran as the top candidate in the state election for the first time. Since 2021, Schalauske and Kula have led the state parliamentary group on equal terms.

It is primarily internal quarrels at the federal level, such as the dispute over Sahra Wagenknecht, that are causing problems for the Hessian Left Party in the election campaign. But Kula and Schalauske also have to fight against their own unknowns.

With Janine Wissler’s departure to Berlin in 2021, the Left not only lost its most prominent face, but also a loud opposition voice. Kula and Schalauske have not yet been able to build on this legacy. The top duo wants to convince voters with promises such as a millionaire tax, higher minimum wages and cheap public transport. According to the surveys, the Left, which has been represented in the Hessian state parliament since 2008, has no good chance of remaining a member of the Wiesbaden state parliament after the election.