SPD local politicians for Pistorius as candidate for chancellor

Northern Saxony's SPD parliamentary group leader Heiko Wittig has spoken out in favor of Defense Minister Boris Pistorius as the Social Democrats' candidate for chancellor in the 2025 federal elections. "Many in the SPD base say: Pistorius is clearly our number one. If Pistorius were to run against Friedrich Merz for chancellor, the CDU/CSU's 15-percentage-point lead would quickly melt away," Wittig told the Tagesspiegel newspaper. With Pistorius as candidate for chancellor, the SPD would have the best chance of winning the election. "If everything stays as it is, the SPD will be in for a rude awakening in the 2025 election," said Wittig, who leads the SPD parliamentary group in the district of North Saxony, a district with around 200,000 inhabitants.

"There is a reason why Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has been at the top of all popularity lists for months and Olaf Scholz at the bottom," said Wittig. Scholz may be an experienced man, but he is too quiet. He is not exercising his authority to issue directives. "To date, he has not even visibly asserted himself. Unlike Schmidt, Kohl, Schröder and even Angela Merkel in the past." Although Scholz "isn't such a bad politician, he doesn't come across", said Wittig.

Unlike Scholz, Pistorius speaks "a clear language that everyone understands". He makes clear statements, talks to people and cares. "People are enthusiastic about him," said the local politician.

SPD leader Lars Klingbeil had expressed his conviction a few days ago that Scholz would also lead the Social Democrats into next year's Bundestag election campaign. "Olaf Scholz is the chancellor, and he will remain so. And he will also be our candidate again," Klingbeil told the "Rheinische Post" when asked about the personnel consequences in the event of a poor performance by the SPD in the European elections.