Morten Klessen
Danish politician (born 1969)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Morten Klessen (born 9 April 1969) is a Danish politician and former Member of the Folketing. A Social Democrat, he represented North Jutland from February 2025 to March 2026.[1]
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Morten Klessen | |
|---|---|
Klessen in October 2025 | |
| Member of the Folketing | |
| In office 28 February 2025 – 24 March 2026 | |
| Preceded by | Rasmus Prehn |
| Constituency | North Jutland |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 9 April 1969 Biersted, Denmark |
| Party | Social Democrats |
| Alma mater | Aalborg Seminarium |
| Occupation | Teacher |
Early life
Klessen was born on 9 April 1969 in Biersted.[1] He is the son of head of section Kjeld Erik Klessen and shop assistant Inge Rosbech Klessen.[1] He was educated at the Biersted skole (1976–1985) and Onsild idrætsefterskole (1985–1986).[1] Klessen joined the Royal Danish Air Force at the age of 18, serving as a fireman at the Aalborg Air Base (1988–1994) and a non-commissioned officer in Air Squadron 650 (1994–1997) which was responsible for ground-based air defence.[1][2]
After leaving the air force, Klessen trained as a teacher at Aalborg Seminarium from 1997 to 2001.[1][3] Following graduation, Klessen and his wife sold their apartment in Aalborg and spent eight months travelling to Thailand, Hong Kong, New Zealand and Australia with their two children.[2]
Career
The family settled in Biersted on returning to Denmark.[2] Klessen was a teacher in Brønderslev (2002–2015), commercial and sports manager for Fortuna Hjørring (2016–2017) and sports director for AaB A/S’ girl and women's section (2017-2019).[1][4] He has been a teacher at the Ølandhus children's home since 2021.[1]
Politics
Klessen was a member of the municipal council in Jammerbugt Municipality from 2005 to 2019.[1][3] He contested the 2019 European election as a Social Democrat candidate in Denmark but was not elected, losing out to Niels Fuglsang by 5,439 votes.[5][6] He contested the 2021 local election as a Social Democrat candidate in North Jutland Region but was not elected, losing out to Lis Mancini by four votes.[7][8] He was however a member of the North Jutland Regional Council from 2024 to 2025, having replaced Ulla Astman.[9]
Klessen contested the 2022 general election as a Social Democrat candidate in North Jutland but was not elected, losing out to Rasmus Prehn by 62 votes.[10][11] He became a permanent member of the Folketing in February 2025 following Prehn's resignation.[12][13] He was re-elected to Jammerbugt Municipal Council at the 2025 local election.[14] He will not be contesting the 2026 general election.[15][16]
Personal life
Klessen is married to Susanne and has four children - Johanne, Mads-Emil, Katrine and Sille.[1][2] He lives in Aabybro.[1] He started coaching Biersted's first girls football team at the age of 18.[4] Since then he has coached boys and girls teams in Pandrup (Jetsmark), Aabybro, Ulsted and Aalborg (B52 Aalborg).[4]
Electoral history
| Election | Constituency | Party | Votes | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 local[17] | Jammerbugt Municipality | Social Democrats | 423 | Elected | |
| 2009 local[18] | Jammerbugt Municipality | Social Democrats | 515 | Elected | |
| 2013 local[19] | Jammerbugt Municipality | Social Democrats | 505 | Elected | |
| 2017 local[20] | Jammerbugt Municipality | Social Democrats | 579 | Elected | |
| 2019 European[21] | Denmark | Social Democrats | 24,005 | Not elected | |
| 2021 local[22] | North Jutland Region | Social Democrats | 1,400 | Not elected | |
| 2022 general[23] | North Jutland | Social Democrats | 1,837 | Not elected | |
| 2025 local[24] | Jammerbugt Municipality | Social Democrats | 551 | Elected | |