The CDU has turned the corner again.
Because the question of who should lead them in the next state election campaign kept the party in suspense for too long, the SPD in particular rejoiced.
But it seems as if the tide has turned.
Boris Rhein, who has occasionally acted as a critic of the Green coalition partner, seems to have been able to unite all voices from the government camp.
Some in the Union had said again and again that Rhein was out of the question as Bouffier's successor because the eco-party would certainly not accept him.
The fifty-year-old now has one and a half years to acquire the so-called official bonus.
The example of Prime Minister Hendrik Wüst (CDU), who was re-elected in North Rhine-Westphalia, shows that this is not much, but can be enough.
His social-democratic opponent had apparently bet that somehow an arithmetical majority of SPD, Greens and FDP would come together and that a traffic light alliance could then also be installed in Düsseldorf, following the model of the federal government.
But the SPD failed in its home country.
And in Hesse?
The party hopes that SPD state chairwoman Nancy Faeser will be able to take advantage of her position as federal interior minister for the top candidate in Hesse.
But this constellation also has its disadvantages.
Because Faeser has to take her role in the federal cabinet into account, she may not announce her top candidacy in Hesse until next year - if this is not thwarted by further cross-shots from her own ranks.
The Hessian Greens, on the other hand, are loyal to the treaty in their alliance with the Union.
That's helping Rhein now because his government remains stable.
But it could then pay off in the state elections in October next year, especially for the eco-party.
It is still of interest to many middle-class voters.
How Rhein wants to stop this bloodletting is the exciting question for the near future.