Success in the federal election also revives the Left in Hesse

Their success was the biggest surprise of the election night: Hardly anyone had expected that the Left, which had been declared dead just a few months ago, would now collect almost nine percent of the vote in the federal election. Their comeback was also successful in Hesse: the Left Party received more than 8.7 percent of the vote there. In no other western German state did they do better.

The party now wants to build on this. "We want to use the momentum for the upcoming local elections," says Michael Müller , leader of the Left Party in the Frankfurt city parliament, who ran as a direct candidate for his party in the federal election in Frankfurt.

The Left Party was particularly strong in the big cities: it received 15.6 percent in Kassel, 17 percent in Offenbach, and 15.3 percent in Darmstadt. In the university town of Marburg, known as a left-wing stronghold, 19 percent voted for it. Frankfurt is divided into two federal constituencies. In constituency I, the Left Party received 15.4 percent, and in constituency II, 13.5 percent.

But support has also increased in rural areas. In none of the 22 electoral districts in Hesse did the Left Party receive less than five percent. Its voters are mostly young: nationwide, one in four people between the ages of 18 and 24 voted for it. It was able to win votes especially from former supporters of the Greens and SPD .

"We focused on the right issues": This is how the Frankfurt left-wing politician Müller explains the election success. Social policy instead of the migration debate - that helped the party. The traffic light government neglected issues such as rising rents or high food prices and thus the concerns of many citizens. The party was also clear on asylum policy: "We did not take part in the competition to outdo each other on the issue of deportations." Many left-wing Green or SPD voters therefore left.

Christian Stecker, director of the Institute for Political Science at the Technical University of Darmstadt, sees things similarly. The disappointment of many left-leaning Green and SPD voters was central to the Left's success. "The Social Democrats and the Greens have worn themselves out in the traffic light coalition," says the political scientist. In asylum policy, the Greens and the SPD have moved far to the right. "Not the majority, but still a lot of people want a completely different approach to refugee policy," says Stecker. The Left has benefited greatly from this.

The party's "clever election campaign" also helped it achieve its surprise success. The social media election campaign with top candidate Heidi Reichinnek was popular with young voters. Stecker calls the Left Party politician "an almost pop-cultural phenomenon." Her speech in the Bundestag, in which she railed against the CDU, FDP and AfD voting together on asylum policy, "went viral." With the Bundestag election, the Left Party has now achieved something that neither the AfD nor the Sahra Wagenknecht alliance have managed: "It has become a pan-German party." The differences in the election results in East and West have decreased significantly.

The enthusiasm is not waning, says Left Party politician Müller. More than 100 new membership applications are still arriving at the state office every day. "Since the beginning of the year, the number of members has almost doubled to more than 7,000," reports Müller. And he tells of a Zoom meeting in which he discussed things with around 60 new members. "They all want to get involved, want to help with the door-to-door election campaign or even run for local parliament."

The party must therefore now try to keep this spirit of optimism alive, says Müller. He is very aware that this will not be a sure-fire success, that there is no guarantee of a permanent high: "Voting behavior has become more volatile, especially among younger people." The Left Party therefore wants to prepare for the next votes soon: local elections are scheduled for spring 2026 in Hesse.

Even then, the party will probably focus on social issues again: "In Frankfurt, the lack of housing is the central problem - we will make that an issue." And the Left politician wants to remain true to another recipe for success from the federal election campaign: "The mixture of social media and door-to-door campaigning worked well. We will certainly do it again."