2019 Social Democratic Party of Germany leadership election

In the 2017 federal election, the SPD won just 20.5% of votes cast, its worst result in the history of the Federal Republic. Party leader Martin Schulz subsequently announced that the SPD would not renew the grand coalition with the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in which it had served since 2013. However, in November, after it became clear that there were no viable alternatives, Schulz reneged on his pledge and called an extraordinary party conference which voted to negotiate a new coalition agreement with the CDU. Schulz was subject to significant opposition and criticism from the party, and resigned as leader in February 2018. However, the coalition agreement was approved by 66.0% of the party members in a vote held later that month, and the SPD re-entered government.

Schulz proposed Andrea Nahles as his successor, and she was confirmed as the SPD's new leader at a party convention in April 2018. Nahles quickly faced difficulties with the new government as many disputes arose over the summer of 2018, including the "asylum quarrel" and controversy around Hans-Georg Maaßen. Nahles was unable to stabilize her party as its performance in opinion polling declined to record lows, accompanied by a string of historically poor state election performances. In national polling, the SPD was overtaken by the Greens in October 2018, and the party polled around 15% through early 2019. In the 2019 European elections held on 26 May, the SPD placed third, winning only 15.8% of votes cast – the worst result for the party on a national level since 1887. Nahles came under major pressure to step down, and announced her resignation on 3 June. The party was thereafter led by acting leaders Malu Dreyer, Thorsten Schäfer-Gümbel and Manuela Schwesig until the party conference in December which elected the new leadership.

Party members were permitted to declare their candidacy between 1 July and 1 September. Candidates were able to run as a sole candidate to head the party alone, or with another member on a two-person ticket to serve as co-leaders. In the latter case, at least one candidate was required to be female. Each single candidate or two-person ticket needed sufficient support from state, regional, or local SPD associations in order to run. The requirements were one state association, one regional district, or five local districts. If no candidacy receives an absolute majority of the votes cast in the first round, the two candidacies with the highest number of votes cast proceed to a second round. Both votes were to be considered invalid if less than 20% of the party membership participated. The party's executive board was to propose the winner of the vote to the party convention which took place between 6 and 8 December.^[8]

Nominations closed on 1 September. A series of 23 conferences were held throughout that month and early October, at which the candidates presented themselves to the party membership and took questions. At least one conference was held in each of the states. In total, approximately 17,000 attendees turned out for the conferences.

Scholz and Geywitz were widely seen as the frontrunners due to Scholz's prominence; he was the only senior government figure to stand in the election. They represented a moderate course and a continuation of the SPD's involvement in the grand coalition, which had sharply divided the party. On the right of the party, Köpping and Pistorius advocated more conservative positions on migration and integration; despite receiving by far the most district endorsements of any ticket, they were weighed down by a poor performance during the campaign, though they remained contenders. Kampmann and Roth steered a soft left course and boosted their image with a professional campaign. The strongest opponents of the grand coalition on the party left were split between four – later three – tickets who hoped to proceed to the runoff: Walter-Borjans and Esken, Lauterbach and Scheer, Schwan and Stegner, and Mattheis and Hirschel. Mattheis and Hirschel were positioned furthest to the left of the party with little chance of success; they withdrew on the final day of the campaign. Schwan and Stegner favoured a membership vote on the coalition, while Scheer and Lauterbach called for an immediate withdrawal, as well as stronger climate policy. Though strongly critical of the coalition, Walter-Borjans and Esken took a softer stance and emphasised wealth redistribution and fighting inequality. They were considered the most likely to make the runoff, assisted by the endorsement of Jusos chairman Kevin Kühnert, who had himself declined to run.^[44][28]