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The 30-year-old Marian Schreier almost caused a sensation in the mayoral election in Stuttgart: In the second ballot, the social democrat, who has been mayor of the small town of Tengen on Lake Constance for five years, came pretty close to the winner from the CDU.
His own party did not support him and even wanted to exclude him at times.
Schreier had entered the race as an independent candidate.
WORLD:
Mr. Schreier, the fight for the OB post in Stuttgart has been unusually strong nationwide despite Corona.
Were you surprised, or was that part of the calculation of your application?
Marian Schreier:
I didn't expect it in this form.
If I had been told that Jan Böhmermann tweeted about the Stuttgart mayor election on election day, I would not have thought it possible.
However, it was already clear to me that my candidacy would generate a certain amount of interest the moment it was promising.
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WORLD:
Only 10,600 votes were missing for the future CDU Lord Mayor Frank Nopper.
Do you feel more like a loser or a winner?
Schreier:
Of course you run an election to win.
So it's a shame at first that it wasn't enough.
But overall, the joy outweighs the great support in the city.
Nobody in Stuttgart knew me at the beginning of the year.
And it was considered practically impossible to succeed as an independent candidate without the support of a party.
Frank Nopper (CDU), winner of the runoff election for Stuttgart's mayor, in front of the town hall
Source: dpa / Marijan Murat
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WORLD:
How did that happen anyway?
Schreier:
Many in Stuttgart wanted change.
We made an unconventional offer off the beaten track, combined with a new style of politics.
On the one hand, our election campaign was strongly digital from the start.
That was an advantage during the corona restrictions.
On the other hand, we also completed over 140 public meetings and made targeted contacts to groups that are otherwise hardly involved in local politics, for example the entire night and sub-cultural scene or foreign communities.
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WELT:
You are a member of the presidium of the state SPD, but were not supported because your candidacy was not voted.
How is a major election campaign even possible without a party apparatus?
Schreier:
Two things are crucial: organization and financing.
My core team of seven people worked almost non-stop for four months.
They really did a great job.
This was flanked by a digital platform on which several hundred supporters registered.
Especially before the second ballot, more dynamism was noticeable from day to day.
With many volunteers, we were able to post posters and hand out flyers in all parts of the city.
Nopper vs.
Schreier - a political competition on equal terms
Source: dpa / Bernd Weissbrod
We have raised more than 100,000 euros in donations through crowdfunding.
That was a novelty in a mayor election.
I financed part of it personally.
This in turn is common in Baden-Württemberg.
Almost all candidates contribute their own contribution.
WORLD:
Do you feel satisfied that you have done significantly better than the official SPD applicant?
Schreier:
No.
That has never been my motivation.
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WORLD: But
you were even threatened with expulsion from the party for behavior that was harmful to the party.
Would you have challenged an expulsion?
Schreier:
I didn't think about that.
The regional arbitration commission decided early on that my membership should be suspended during my candidacy.
That closed the subject.
My membership has been active again since Monday.
I do not see my candidacy as damaging the party.
WELT:
What message do you have for your own party, also with a view to the state elections in March?
Schreier:
Mayoral elections have their own logic, not everything can be transferred one-to-one.
But political offers have to be presented in terms of style and communication in keeping with the times.
And the SPD has to look for ties to social groups that have been lost.
The situation in Baden-Württemberg is sometimes dramatic, in some regions the SPD is practically no longer represented.
It is not enough to make offers to individual groups such as single parents or retirees or industrial workers or academics and hope that it will then be enough for a majority.
A successful narrative that ties everything together is necessary as a content-related bracket.
"It's about people who come up with their own ideas and convictions"
Source: dpa
WORLD:
Why was it so bad for the Greens?
Schreier:
I am doing the same thing as in the election campaign and will not rate competitors.
But the decisive factor for election campaigns is whether one can communicate concepts for the future in a credible and meaningful way.
Apparently there are increasing numbers of voters who no longer automatically attribute this to the Greens.
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Just looking back and referring to your own balance sheet are not enough for a successful election campaign.
Many would have hoped for more change and dynamism.
This applies to the whole of Baden-Württemberg.
In the case of green core issues such as wind power, the targets that we had set ourselves were clearly undercut.
WORLD:
You and the eco-left Hannes Rockenbauch were called "egoshooters" and "nopper makers" because you ran again in the second ballot and thus favored the victory of CDU applicant Nopper.
Why was there no agreement on a common candidate?
Schreier:
An election for mayor is a choice of personality in which there are no coalitions.
You can't look at them through the camp glasses and simply move parts of the vote back and forth.
It's about people who come up with their own ideas and beliefs.
Regardless of whether you want to endorse this assessment, the first ballot was an expression of a desire for change on both the conservative and the progressive side.
I was convinced that my independent candidacy was the right offer to express this desire on the progressive side.
Conversely, Mr Rockenbauch argued that I could not credibly represent an eco-social offer.
I thought that was wrong, because according to this reading there would not have been an eco-social majority after the first ballot.
Hannes Rockenbauch, the third candidate in the Stuttgart runoff election
Source: dpa / Sebastian Gollnow
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WORLD:
How are things going for you now?
How long will you stay with local politics?
Or have there already been any offers?
Schreier:
I'm Mayor of Tengen on Lake Constance and I've been back in town hall since this morning.
For the time being, I'm looking forward to continuing my work in Tengen.
It is too early to speculate about what might follow in the future.
I will definitely continue to be passionate about politics and local politics.
Because I enjoy it.