Kevin Kühnert

Kevin Kühnert, 2018

Kevin Kühnert (born 1 July 1989) is a German politician of the SPD; since 24 November 2017, he has been Federal Chairman of the Jusos. Previously, he served as deputy chairman.

Early life and career

Kühnert was born in West Berlin. His father is a tax clerk, his mother works in a job center. He obtained his school leaving exam in 2008 at the Beethoven-Gymnasium in Lankwitz, Berlin, where he also served as pupil's spokesman. Then he was a volunteer in a Berlin organization that accompanies children and young people in political participation.

Kühnert initially worked for over three years in a call center, then studying journalism and communication science at the Free University Berlin, but never graduated. Finally, he enrolled in Political Science and Sociology at the Fernuniversität Hagen (again without degree), and worked in the Abgeordnetenhaus of Berlin for Melanie Kühnemann. In 2016 he was a member of the supervisory board of Tennis Borussia Berlin.

Political career

Kühnert joined the SPD in 2005 and was the country's chairman of the Jusos Berlin from 2012 to 2015. Since 2015, he acted as deputy Jusos Federal Chairman and was responsible for tax policy, pension policy, structural policy, right-wing extremism and migration policy, as well as for social media work. After Johanna Uekermann had not stood as a candidate again, the Juso federal congress in Saarbrücken in November 2017 elected him as chairman of the Jusos with 225 of 297 votes.

In terms of local politics, Kühnert is active in the district of Tempelhof-Schöneberg as a member of the district council.

During the campaign for the SPD party member vote on the 2018 coalition agreement of Germany Kühnert, along with the #NoGroKo (No Grand Coalition) initiative, promoted the No campaign.[1][2]

In March 2018 Kühnert came out in an interview in the magazine Siegessäule as a homosexual.[3][4][5]

In May 2018 Kühnert was chosen as a "Next Generation Leader" by Time magazine because of the resistance he launched against the grand coalition that nearly managed to topple Angela Merkel and led to a national debate about the future of the SPD and the future of German politics in general.[6]

References

  1. ↑ Die SPD hat entschieden, FAZ.net
  2. ↑ Heiße Diskussionen mit dem Juso-Vorsitzenden, FAZ.net
  3. ↑ Christian Arnold (2018-03-05). "SPD am Scheideweg: Juso-Chef Kevin Kühnert im Interview". Siegessäule (in German). Retrieved 2018-03-06.
  4. ↑ "Kevin Kühnert spricht erstmals über seine Homosexualität". welt.de (in German). 2018-03-06. Retrieved 2018-03-06.
  5. ↑ Carolin Wollschied (2018-03-08). "Reaktionen auf Coming-Out: „Damit Erika Steinbach sich ärgern kann"". FAZ.net (in German). Retrieved 2018-03-12.
  6. ↑ "Life of the Party". 2018-05-17. Retrieved 2018-05-19.
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