Von Olaf Scholz keine Spur. In einer der letzten Hochburgen der SPD, im Wahlkreis 169 in Nordhessen, ist der Bundeskanzler und Spitzenkandidat der Partei praktisch nicht plakatiert. Zwei oder drei große Bilder von ihm hängen an Bushaltestellen – da, wo die Werbung aus der Parteizentrale in Berlin gebucht und bezahlt wurde.
In den 37 Gemeinden und Städten im Schwalm-Eder-Kreis und im Frankenberger Land haben die Genossen ihren eigenen Mann an unzählige Laternen gehängt: „Erststimme Philipp Rottwilm“ steht da. Von ihm, der hier Bürgermeister einer kleinen Gemeinde ist, sind sie überzeugt. Er ist der Grund, wieso die Genossen bei nur einem Grad über dem Gefrierpunkt am Freitagnachmittag auf Supermarkt-Parkplätzen stehen und Marmeladengläschen mit seinem Konterfei darauf verteilen. Ein ehemaliger SPD-Bürgermeister an einem der Stände sagt: „Wir treten mit einem politisch Toten an“ – er meint Scholz. Bundesweit ist die Wahl für die SPD gelaufen, findet er. Es geht noch darum, die alte SPD-Hochburg zu verteidigen. Aber selbst das ist nicht mehr so leicht.
Beim Neujahrsempfang des DGB Schwalm-Eder im Bürgersaal in Felsberg sind viele in der SPD oder fühlen sich ihr zumindest verbunden. Um zwei Dinge geht es an diesem Abend: die wirtschaftliche Krise des Landes und die Bedrohung der Demokratie. Und irgendwie hängt beides miteinander zusammen. In seiner Rede spricht der DGB-Bezirksvorsitzende von Hessen-Thüringen, Michael Rudolph, von den Fehlern, die die Führung des Volkswagen-Konzerns gemacht habe. Er lobt den Betriebsrat, der durch den Abschluss mit der Führung die Perspektive für das nordhessische Werk gesichert habe. Von Fehlern der SPD-geführten Bundesregierung ist nicht die Rede.
Unter den Facharbeitern bei VW löste die Krise des Autokonzerns im vergangenen Jahr Verunsicherung und Abstiegsängste aus. Nicht jeder wähle deshalb gleich die AfD, aber „das selbstverständliche Kreuz bei der SPD“, das hier noch lange nach den Hartz-Reformen galt, ist seltener geworden, sagt ein Gewerkschafter. „Die Bindung zur SPD ist nicht mehr so da“, sagt am nächsten Tag einer, der bei VW arbeitet und in der SPD ist, am Wahlkampfstand. Seit zehn Jahren arbeitet er für den Konzern, in der SPD ist er wie seine Eltern. Familientradition. Damit sei er aber inzwischen die Ausnahme unter seinen Kollegen.
Unter den Gästen des Neujahrsempfangs sind vor allem pensionierte Lehrer und Mitarbeiter des öffentlichen Dienstes. Wenn der DGB-Vorsitzende Rudolph es einen „Dammbruch“ nennt, dass die Union Stimmen der AfD in Kauf genommen habe, findet das viel Zustimmung. „Wir werden das nicht still und heimlich hinnehmen“, sagt Rudolph. Die Gewerkschaften seien schon einmal Zeugen einer Machtergreifung gewesen. „Herr Merz, wir sind die Brandmauer“, ruft er. Später reden sie bei Hütt-Bier und Schnittchen viel über „diesen Merz“ und die AfD.
Frieder Schütz, 80, is one of the few who are also critical of the SPD. When he talked to others, he keeps hearing the trouble about the citizens' allowance and help for asylum seekers. “If the SPD only helps those who do not work, then it should not be surprised if the who work for the AfD vote,” he says.
The candidate for the Bundestag Philipp Rottwilm is also in the hall. When an older DGB man is annoyed by the AfD voters and says: “If they go away from the SPD, they switch off their brain right away,” Rottwilm replies: “Oh, stop.” Certainly some of the AfD- Do not regain voters, but you have to fight for the trust of the voters. He talks about what he wants to fight in Berlin: strengthen the economy and do more for rural areas. His counterpart nods and says: “The Philipp is one who is still choosing the SPD.”
The self -image of the SPD in North Hesse is different from in large parts of the country. Anyone who wants to be set up here must have already profiled themselves in a form, says Edgar Franke. He has been representing the constituency in the Bundestag for 15 years, and he was elected directly. Before that, he was mayor of the city of Gudensberg for ten years. “We have more grip here in the SPD,” he says. He also finds a lot of praise for his potential successor Rottwilm. Rottwilm has been the mayor of the municipality of Neuental for seven years, where he grew up and now lives with his family. “It is grounded. People smell that. “
The Ahlewurst is part of the stable smell. Rottwilm can talk about this North Hessian specialty for minutes, from which house butcher he relates and what matters – rather smoked than air -dried, he says. In his appearance and history, Rottwilm stands for an academically minted, modern SPD – he studied in Oxford and Harvard, was received in economics and worked for the management consultancy KPMG. The rather conservative social democrat emphasizes the end of the shoulder with the workers and fighting for the little people. But he himself is not a climber; His parents are doctors. Rottwilm likes to say that he knows this and that from his time in Berlin, Frankfurt or London. With his wife, whom he met in Oxford, he consciously decided to move back here.
At the election stand in front of the Rewe market in Neuental, two older men are enthusiastic when it comes to Rottwilm. He had done a lot to develop the industrial area, who was in accordance with the municipality and strengthened the local directors. A project by the mayor is also the redesign of the station forecourt, which is quite old. Because the train didn't want to change anything, the community tried to buy the place to renew it. According to Rottwilm, negotiations lasted for years. When there was an agreement, the train jumped off.
Now the municipality is given a permit that it can renovate the space with funds from the country – but it still belongs to the train. “I would have liked to have been in federal politics earlier to do what to do that such things didn't take that long,” says Rottwilm.
With the owner of the Rewe market, Thorsten Kehr, Rottwilm discusses the minimum wage. “You can pay 15 euros from me,” says Kehr to the candidate. But then you have to prepare for the products to become more expensive. “Instead of 1.99 euros, the sausage then costs 2.49 euros,” he says. That is not said in the election campaign. Rottwilm listens, praises the tariff autonomy and argues that there must be a lower limit in the wages. Kehr says: “At 15 euros per hour, the lower tariff groups just knock us away.” Kehr's mother is still a SPD member. The party book is one thing that she absolutely wanted to take with her in the retirement home. Even if Kehr has his problems with the SPD, he estimates Rottwilm. He supported him in building the new market.
To hold out the election campaign, Rottwilm drinks a smoothie on the Rewe parking lot and then jumps up and down. The cold consumes on the election campaigns. He had to expose one day. Like many campaigners in the country, he drags a cold around with him. The stress, the cold, little sleep.
His competitor from the CDU, Anna-Maria Bischof, is at home and takes a short campaign break to regenerate. She coughs on the phone. She absolutely wants to win the constituency, the two weeks until the election has already held out. Your chances are better than ever in Northern Hesse. Examination institutions expect national trends down to constituencies and indicate the likelihood with which this or that party wins. Germany is divided on these cards: the majority of the east, the AfD should win many direct mandates there – the rest of the country Schwarz for the Union. And the constituency 169 in Hesse is gray – insecure for the CDU or for the SPD depending on the institute. A wobble candidate.
What the CDU inspired was the 2023 state election in Hesse. The northern Schwalm-Eder district was won for the first time by a CDU man-with only 481 votes ahead. For the SPD candidate Rottwilm, this is an incentive to fight until the last minute.
In Edermünde he rings the doorbell on the doors of a new building area in the afternoon. “If only a few hundred voices are important, every door counts.” He wants to imagine, he says over and over again. So he presents advertising and Kuli. Direct candidates tend to overestimate their own effect. That says election research. If the trend is like in the current surveys, the Union at 30 percent, the SPD cut off at 15, Rottwilm has little chance.
In the village community center, the SPD Gudensberg will meet for battles on Friday evening. The comrades and men from the men's singing club paid 22 euros to decide at the buffet between the cooked blood or liver sausage, Mett with onions, bratwurst, meatballs and corrugated meat. Rottwilm keeps a speech too long. When he says, “I still want to do this point”, a comrade breathes heavily. The “taboo break” in Berlin does not move the base here.
One of the male singing club that is there because of the sausage says that he cannot understand the “fet in Berlin”. “Migration has to be limited. Point. From. ”He considers Scholz to be“ incapable ”, he doesn't like Merz. And even if he chose the SPD for a lifetime, he struggles. Maybe he choose the young candidate. This time not because, but even though it is in the SPD.
