State elections are usually one of the rather unpleasant events for Berlin's governing parties.
In the past year, it was primarily the FDP that had to suffer to learn how acting in the federal cabinet can destroy electoral opportunities across the board.
The party of Federal Finance Minister Lindner found itself in the opposition twice - in Schleswig-Holstein and in North Rhine-Westphalia - after the elections in Saarland and Lower Saxony - even in the extra-parliamentary one.
This year, many eyes will be on the chancellor party, SPD, starting in the German capital, where the Social Democrats will have to assert what feels like eternal supremacy on February 12 against the Greens as their dual coalition partner in Berlin.
There is little evidence of a mood of change in Hesse
In Bavaria, the Social Democrats will probably be happy in October if it should again be enough for a double-digit share of the vote.
In Hesse, on the other hand, things will be all the more exciting.
Because even if the SPD were to be led into the election campaign by the (then still?) current Federal Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeser, success in the fall is not guaranteed.
The party is less and less able to hold a candle to the Greens in state and local politics, as is likely to be shown in three important mayoral elections in the spring.
And satisfaction with the black-green state government is still in good shape.
At the beginning of the election year there is little evidence of a mood of change from which the SPD could benefit.