One of the most exciting political careers could come to an abrupt end on Sunday. The Greens politician Boris Palmer, who was fired from his party, wants to win another term of office after 16 years as mayor of Tübingen or retire completely.
At first glance, Boris Palmer is still a flagship Green. Always on the move by bike, still moved by climate change and deeply involved in the topic of renewable energies. In a way, he is still a pioneer of the party. After all, the triumph of the Greens in what was once the deep black of Baden-Württemberg did not begin with Winfried Kretschmann's entry into the office of Prime Minister or the seven years in which Stuttgart's mayor was Fritz Kuhn from 2013, nor with the direct mandate for today's Federal Minister of Agriculture, Cem Özdemir. The breakthrough came when the then 34-year-old Boris Palmer was elected mayor of the venerable university town of Tübingen in 2006 with 50.4 percent of the votes, where you can still see young men in the strange costumes of conservative student associations celebrating archaic rituals.
At the time, it was Palmer who proved that the Greens could reach the middle class and keep it with solid politics. Eight years later, Palmer was re-elected with more than 64 percent. He was already a media star by then - one that editors liked to ask for interviews and talk shows because of his crisp, provocative statements. Eloquent, stubborn and also greedy for public attention, Palmer was a grateful conversationalist. In his party, however, he was quickly seen as an uncontrollable obstructionist. Loose cannons are politicians in the English-speaking world who are sometimes ticking time bombs, sometimes unpredictable, but in any case dangerous for their own ranks.
Next Sunday, Palmer wants to win the vote for eight more years in Tübingen City Hall. This time, however, he has the Greens against him. They send Ulrike Baumgärtner into the race, while Palmer's membership is suspended until the end of 2023. Palmer had accepted a corresponding arbitration proposal last spring when he was threatened with expulsion from the party because of various controversial statements. Palmer, on the other hand, is running with the support of the "electoral initiative for Boris Palmer". The electoral machinery of a major party is therefore not available to him. But in only a few larger cities do so many people know the name of their mayor. If you don't see him cycling through town, you'll see him regularly on TV, not least on "Lanz". In terms of notoriety, Palmer is the tallest of the many local politicians, big and small.
Palmer made the camel overflow when he used the N-word on Facebook in spring 2021 in connection with the German national soccer player, whose father is from Nigeria. Even if Palmer felt misunderstood in his irony, after various gaffes - especially on the social network Facebook - he cannot have been surprised by the public outrage. Palmer had already played with resentment, for example when he asked in relation to a campaign image for Deutsche Bahn: "What society is this supposed to show?" The photo showed train passengers of different skin colors.
That Palmer is xenophobic would probably not even submit to him his own critics. Very well, however, that he does not reflect on his own everyday racism and likes to provoke resentment. It was similar in the Corona crisis, when Palmer once asked whether people were not being saved here "who will be dead in six months anyway", and Tübingen, which he managed, stood out with particularly realistic and efficient measures to contain the pandemic . His policy has also remained green in many respects: Tübingen has made good progress in expanding renewables. This is Palmer's campaign promise to make Tübingen climate-neutral by the end of his third term in 2030.
Palmer's proximity to business and his enthusiasm for technology are atypical. Palmer doesn't believe in preaching renunciation. For him, the fight against climate change and economic growth go hand in hand. After 16 years under Palmer, Tübingen is in fact in a good position economically, with the university city's budget in the green. Palmer's election campaign is characterized by all sorts of impressive figures on the number of new companies and jobs. The promise of bringing the environment and the economy together is also the recipe with which the Greens were soon successful throughout Baden-Württemberg and beyond.
He will leave this legacy to his party if he ends up behind Baumgärtner or the SPD candidate Sofie Geisel on Sunday. The outcome of the first ballot is open. Baumgärtner and Geisel differ from Palmer mainly in the promise to bring more calm to the town hall, not wanting to polarize as much as the incumbent. But he hasn't started a scandal for months, even admitted mistakes in election campaign discussions. It is unclear whether this was calculated or based on genuine insight, but it is obvious that he was impressed by his near-expulsion from the Greens. He definitely wants to remain a member there.
"If I can't win this election, the political figure Boris Palmer will be at an end," said the 50-year-old in an interview with the "Pforzheimer Zeitung". He would like to continue if he has a majority of the population behind him. But if that's not the case, Palmer says he wants to quit after the first ballot. "Then I'll be retired, have three children and, when the weather is nice, I'll ride my bike."
As a private person, Palmer says he will also hold back from speaking up in the party when he retires. One can imagine that he can also be happy as a father and cyclist. But it would be a surprise that he also imposed restraint on Facebook and, after probably thousands of people had spoken there, began to remain silent. But Palmer was always open to surprises.
