The Darmstadt SPD has nominated Hanno Benz for the office of mayor.

Benz is the son of the former Lord Mayor of Darmstadt, Peter Benz, who was in office from 1993 to 2005, and he was born and raised in Darmstadt.

Despite less than ideal conditions, Benz was confident of winning the election on Tuesday in front of the press.

The Social Democrats, at times at odds within the party due to differing views on political goals, had downright collapsed in the last local elections and had just achieved 16.7 percent of the votes.

However, Benz calculates differently.

In personal elections, for example in the last federal election, the Social Democrat candidates would have achieved 30 percent or more.

That is expandable.

He may also be counting on a “father bonus”, because Peter Benz was popular with the people of Darmstadt when he was mayor.

A "father bonus"

Hanno Benz, who even resigned his parliamentary mandate due to the poor local election results in 2021 because, as chairman of the SPD local association in Arheilgen, he had shared responsibility for the poor result, has now been nominated by the SPD executive board with a clear majority, but still has to be nominated by him on September 28 be confirmed by an SPD general meeting.

"We are sure that he will win," party leader Tim Huss spread optimism to the press.

Benz wants to change the main points of local politics in Darmstadt, but also knows that in the event of an election he will have to govern against a coalition of the Greens, CDU and Volt.

That's why he agreed to a fair election campaign with his two competitors, Paul Georg Wandrey from the CDU and Michael Kolmer from the Greens, both of whom are full-time city councillors, knowing full well that he will need their support after the election if he wins.

"De-ideologizing" transport policy

Benz, who works in public relations for a Frankfurt-based energy supplier, says he not only wants to "end Darmstadt's parochial thinking and go back to politics together with the surrounding communities", but also the master plan 2030 plus, in which the goals for further development of the city, change significantly.

He will “de-ideologize” transport policy, decentralize administration again and drive digitization faster.

"We are able to win a majority in Darmstadt," affirmed party leader Huss, hoping for an upswing in the Social Democrats.

The previous mayor, Jochen Partsch (The Greens), who has governed since 2011, recently announced his retirement from full-time politics.

The mayoral election is on March 19, 2023. In addition to the candidates from the CDU, SPD and Greens, an applicant from the Free Voters and a candidate from “The Party” can also be expected.