Berlin Hendrik Wüst (CDU) has only been Prime Minister of North Rhine-Westphalia for less than 200 days. At the end of October he followed Armin Laschet. But flying changes have often gone wrong.
And now? There was hardly any time for Wüst to make himself known to the electorate. He was Minister of Transport under Laschet for four and a half years. However, the position gave him at most as much publicity as his challenger Thomas Kutschaty (SPD), who was helped by his time as Minister of Justice in Hannelore Kraft’s cabinet.
Neither Kutschaty nor incumbent Wüst really know the people from Aachen to Minden, so there can hardly be any talk of an office bonus. Neither are people snarers.
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Wüst, who likes to cycle to work, has worked systematically on his advancement and has never left his home in Münsterland. He goes hunting and plays handball.
At the age of 15 he joined the Junge Union and founded a local branch. His parents came from humble backgrounds and died young. The young libertine studied law in Münster. In 2005 he moved into the Düsseldorf state parliament.
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Just one year later he became General Secretary of the NRW-CDU. He fell over a sponsoring affair, but soon got back up because the Mittelstandsunion NRW elected him boss and is now actively supporting him in the election campaign. During the period of opposition, he hired himself out as managing director of the newspaper publishers’ association in North Rhine-Westphalia.
In 2017, Wüst took over the transport department. He tackled the investment backlog, while then Prime Minister Laschet put the reduction of bureaucracy at the top of the agenda. Nevertheless, chaos reigns on the autobahns, be it at the partially closed Leverkusen bridge on the A1 or the fully closed Rahmede viaduct on the A45.
The outgoing Prime Minister Armin Laschet congratulates his successor.
(Photo: imago images/Political Moments)
Infrastructure is crumbling all over the country. Wüst sees this as a failure of the last two to three decades, rather than his own. At the end of October 2021 he took over the office and the party chairmanship from Laschet.
Wüst considers the affair over the now resigned Environment Minister Ursula Heinen-Esser, who flew to Mallorca with cabinet members shortly after the flood disaster in the Rhineland, to be over.
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He also no longer wants to be seen as a middle-class politician, but as someone who takes care of everyone. In view of inflation and energy prices, he now considers the minimum wage of twelve euros, which is now also being demanded by the federal party led by Friedrich Merz from the Sauerland region, to be necessary.
In any case, the federal party is doing its utmost to ensure that Wüst does not meet the same fate as Hans, McAllister or Gabriel. Merz and General Secretary Mario Czaja made countless appearances during the election campaign.
Above all, they have been trying for weeks and months to destroy the image of the powerful chancellor. Olaf Scholz (SPD) won the federal election with the image and should provide momentum for the SPD in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Hardliners in corona politics
Wüst himself only traveled to Berlin as chairman of the Prime Ministers’ Conference. He tried to use the big stage to quickly gain profile. He presented himself as a hardliner in corona politics. A strategy that probably won’t pay off.
For the evening of the election, party friends recommend him to make it clear immediately, even if the lead is still so narrow in front of the SPD: the voters have given the CDU the task of forming the government. He should build up “moral pressure”, as the SPD did on the evening of the general election.
>>> Also read: All questions and answers about the state elections in North Rhine-Westphalia
The goal: a black-green alliance, even if Wüst would like to continue governing with the FDP. Its Minister of Education, Yvonne Gebauer, made so many mistakes in the corona crisis that the party lost support over the long term.
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The Greens, according to the optimistic CDU, should not be averse to a coalition. Although the state association is significantly more left-leaning than in Baden-Württemberg, for example, the Greens would remember the times with the SPD: the comrades would not have treated them well.
Either way, the Greens are confident that they will govern soon. It is “perhaps not so crucial” whether Wüst or challenger Kuchaty becomes the next prime minister, said Greens top candidate Mona Neubaur.
More: Andreas Pinkwart’s digital political balance sheet