Brandenburg: Jan Redmann in the election campaign after his drunk driving

A wide village street between squat houses. A nearby lake that is perfect for swimming. An old manor house that once hosted Theodor Fontane.

Kleßen in the Havelland district is, there is no other way to put it: very Brandenburgian. And incidentally, it is the smallest municipality in the state. That is precisely why the CDU has decided to start its campaign for the state election on September 22nd here. It seems nice and down-to-earth, home-loving and conservative.

And so the mild evening sun shines on a bouncy castle, a grill and a drinks stand that have been set up on a lawn. Posters can be seen everywhere, with a man wearing fashionable glasses smiling. They read: “Jan Redmann – Prime Minister of Brandenburg”.

With 1.3 per mille through Potsdam-Babelsberg

In the middle of this rural arrangement, in jeans and with his shirt sleeves rolled up, stands the leading candidate in person and talks about how migration must finally be controlled and local transport expanded. He and the CDU are “steering Brandenburg towards a new beginning,” Redmann shouts into the microphone.

Finally he lowers his voice. “I made a mistake,” he says. “I was very hard on myself because of it.” Then he raises his voice: “I will correct this mistake.” Around 50 party officials, residents and curious onlookers give mild applause.

It was almost two weeks ago in Potsdam-Babelsberg when the police stopped citizen Jan Redmann. The politician was riding an e-scooter, which is considered a fully-fledged means of transport. The alcohol test showed 1.3 per mille. If the blood alcohol level, which is not yet available, confirms the result, this would be a criminal offense.

Redmann tried to limit the damage. In a statement and a video, he described the incident as a moment of catharsis: “It feels right to tell you openly and honestly about my mistake.”

But doubts arose about the openness shown when the internal police report became known. According to the officers, Redmann was not checked “routinely”, as he had said, but “because of his driving style”.

Redmann also sticks to his story in Kleßen. “I was stopped by the police and told them that they were conducting a general traffic check,” he told the star. “No other reason was given to me.”

State elections will take place on 22 September

On September 22, voters in Brandenburg will have to decide whether they judge Redmann based on his 44 years of life so far – or on that moment with the electric scooter. It seems like a small thing. On the other hand: How on earth did he come up with the idea of ​​driving drunk through the city as the leading candidate?

It is a difficult case. The mood on the meadow in Kleßen is rather lenient. “He apologized and that was it,” says an old man from the village. “It can happen to anyone,” says the woman next to him.

Now Redmann is not just anyone. He wants to become head of government. The qualified lawyer, who has a doctorate and lives alternately in his native Prignitz and the state capital Potsdam, has had a model party career.

At 27, he was the state chairman of the Junge Union, at 32 he was the deputy chairman of the Brandenburg CDU and at 39 he was the chairman of the state parliamentary group. He has now also taken over the state party chairmanship, sits on the federal executive board and is the top candidate for the state elections.

Found in politics through resistance against neo-Nazis

In the CDU, Redmann, who made his relationship with a man public in 2021, is considered more liberal. He says his politicization took place in the “so-called baseball bat years,” when neo-Nazis made the Brandenburg region unsafe. When a kebab burned in his hometown, he organized a memorial march as a student representative.

But why the Union? Redmann replied that he was impressed by the actions of the then CDU interior minister against right-wing extremists. Jörg Schönbohm simply sent a police squad into the city. “At some point there was peace.”

A similar story can be found on the candidate’s website. It fits into the narrative of a strong state that has to protect its borders with federal officials, but also of a CDU that is not open to right-wing extremism.

Brandenburg has always been SPD-state

The AfD, says Redmann, is not an option for nothing. But he has also recently distanced himself more clearly from the Greens. Saxony-Anhalt and Berlin have proven that things can work without them, he says. “Only a strong CDU is a guarantee that something will change.”

But whether the change of power would work was already uncertain before the drunk driving incident. After all, the SPD has been the state premier in Brandenburg since 1990. Dietmar Woidke has been in office since 2013, with the CDU and the Greens as junior partners.

In fact, the CDU has reached the same level as the SPD in the polls with 19 percent. However, this perspective is deceptive. On the one hand, it was the same five years ago, before Woidke exploited his incumbency bonus and ended up with 26 percent, a good ten points ahead of the Union. On the other hand, the AfD is at 23 percent – and the BSW is coming ever closer from behind with 16 percent.

What speaks for Redmann: He seems to have actually united the state party, which was long known as the “Brandenburg Schlachtplatte” because of its chronic self-destruction. At least externally, the association appears united for the first time in decades.

Nobody wants to make any critical comments. Of course the whole e-scooter thing is “rubbish,” says Bundestag member Uwe Feiler in Kleßen. “But Jan was very open about it.” He informed all members by email before the public statement.

But the case is hanging on him, the opposition wants to push him. Feiler naturally thinks that the SPD, the Left and the Greens have called a special meeting of the committees for domestic and legal policy this Wednesday is exaggerated. “But that is normal in an election campaign,” he tells the star. “We have to take this in good spirit.”

Redmann’s general secretary, Gordon Hoffmann, does not want to take it quite so calmly. “We all know that the scooter ride was not the best idea,” he says. But the question he hears from Brandenburg residents is: “Isn’t there anything more important?”

Redmann knows that he will be asked about the fateful evening in Potsdam many times in the next two months until the election. So he prefers to do it himself, especially since, as he says, he has at least become better known.

In Kleßen, at the drinks stand, the leading candidate stands next to two men and pours himself mineral water into a paper cup. “I’m not here with the e-scooter, but I’d rather just take that,” he says, forcing a smile.