Malu Dreyer successor - Alexander Schweitzer: Why you should remember this man from Mainz
"What do they call you now, Minister or Minister-President?" The woman at the podium wonders aloud, and the answer comes promptly: "Schweitzer!"
The scene is typical for him. Politely, almost a little embarrassed, the 2.06-meter-tall man stands at this July afternoon in the Mainz State Museum, granting certificates to new sustainability ambassadors. For years, this Alexander Schweitzer has been a constant figure in the local SPD – he was Youth Leader, General Secretary, and Faction Leader, and Minister. And on this Wednesday, the 50-year-old lawyer is set to make the next career move: Let the Landtag elect him as the successor for the health-compelled Malu Dreyer as Minister-President of Rhineland-Palatinate.
This afternoon at the museum is one of the last appointments Schweitzer has as a Minister for Labor, Social Affairs, and Digitalization. To his super-ministry also belongs the topic of further education. In a way, he explains then, this "shorter tenure" has also been a "personal further education as a Minister" for him, because "I have also learned a lot myself." And suddenly, one senses it – the often praised ability of the politician: the gift of making people feel that he is now entirely there for them, just here, on this topic.
Three hours earlier, he had landed his first coup as a designated head of government: the presentation of his successor. Dorothea Schall, a Social Democrat from North Rhine-Westphalia, Social Department Head in Mönchengladbach. An outsider, someone Schweitzer already knew from their shared Juso years. Someone who is only bound to the new Minister-President.
"The 'Schweitzer Guard' is being talked about in Mainz"
That would be the second gift of Alexander Schweitzer: He is regarded as an excellent networker. He is, number three, also a strategic mind, number four, a good analyst. Such is how party friends describe him, of whom he seems to have many. Schweitzer's long-term efforts for the party are paying off; in the power struggle for Dreyer's succession, it was his supporters who are now carrying him into office – the "Schweitzer Guard" is being talked about in the Mainz government district.
He built his power base once as General Secretary of the Rhineland-Palatinate SPD, Kurt Beck had made him in 2009 – the long-term Minister-President is considered Schweitzer's political father figure. Like Beck, Schweitzer grew up entirely in the South of the Palatinate, in Bad Bergzabern, the French border is only a cat's leap away from here.
"I had a very unusual childhood"
The first six years of his life, however, Schweitzer spent mostly seeing the Rhine: His father was a barge captain who sailed down the Rhine as far as Rotterdam and back, and mother and son went with him. "I had a very unusual childhood," Schweitzer says in the interview. "Those were formative years." It was also rough at sea sometimes, but he learned something then: "It was worked on so long until the job was done."
He joined the SPD in 1989, when he was just 16 years old. He became Juso-Chief in the Saarland, a member of the County Council, and eventually a state representative. In 2006, he inherited his mandate from Kurt Beck. Just like Beck, Schweitzer is known for his close connection with people and his rather baroque figure. When Schweitzer comes to the Landesmuseum for a meeting, he warmly greets the head of his ministry's department with a heartfelt hug. Then, with infinite patience, he poses for photos, smiles at every camera, shakes hands, and speaks encouraging words. Politics, after all, is also about such things. And perhaps that's why the traffic light in Mainz is considered "more harmonious" by Schweitzer, as he puts it, compared to its Berlin counterpart.
Just as Beck used to share stories from his practice at home, Schweitzer now does the same. The former basketball player is the father of two sons and a daughter, and he still lives with his family in Bad Bergzabern, where his wife works as a teacher.
Beck admired snouts, Schweitzer is a Vegan
However, the next political generation is different in many ways. Schweitzer wants to be "present on TikTok and at the counters," he says, and he even lets himself be photographed relaxed on the floor. And while Beck used to praise snouts, Schweitzer has been a vegetarian for eight years. "It all started out of curiosity about the topic, as a personal experiment – and it's been good for me," he explains, of course, not without the political disclaimer: "I don't put anyone in their bowl." Instead, he enjoys looking over the rim, having visited the Obama campaign in the US in 2013, and most recently posing again in a trenchcoat and with a charming smile in front of the White House in Washington.
At the Landesmuseum, Schweitzer now speaks of personal development and the joy of discovering new goals for himself. He talks about "the broad perspective, not the narrow one, which we need," and about how important it is "to dare to look beyond what we have held as the only valid frame until now."
The greatest career step: Landesvater
Indeed: The man is standing before the greatest career step of his life, the leap he has been working towards for years: Minister-President, Landesvater. The path led through many stations: State Secretary in the Economics Ministry, then Minister of Labor and Social Affairs in 2013, and only a year later, Chief of the SPD Fraction. Schweitzer held the fraction together for seven years, his biting speeches were feared by the political opposition, and his standing was excellent.
The fraction became Schweitzer's power base, but the succession of Dreyer led to a bitter power struggle: In 2021, Schweitzer was made Superminister, but in the office, he remained rather insipid – while Dreyer, in 2022, recruited Michael Ebling as Interior Minister from Mainz. However, Ebling acted rather aloof, and the party stood behind Schweitzer – in the end, the "Schweitzer Guard" prevailed.
Waiting for New Major Challenges: Rhineland-Palatinate has fallen behind in the comparison of the states, no other federal state saw its economic output decline as much at the beginning of the year as there. And the state still has the most heavily indebted municipalities in the republic. The worst part is: The flood disaster in the Ahr Valley and above all the poor management of the state government in the night and afterwards has left deep mistrust among the population.
As Successor to Malu Dreyer: A New Beginning also in the Ahr Valley
One of his first appointments will lead him to the Ahr Valley, Schweitzer already announced, the reconstruction should be the central theme. The money is still flowing in. Schweitzer's second move before taking office: He transfers the person responsible for reconstruction to the Health Ministry, a new coordinator is supposed to bring fresh air.
Switzerland could make a real fresh start by doing what Malu Dreyer had stubbornly refused to do for three years: an apology for the Ahr Valley. He may not express himself on this matter at the moment, but he trusts it. Winning back trust, bringing the state back on course – Switzerland has two years for this, the next state election is expected in the spring of 2026. The coalition is currently miles away from a majority in Mainz surveys.
- In the power struggle for Dreyer's succession, it was Alexander Schweitzer's supporters who managed to carry him into office, forming what is now known as the "Schweitzer Guard" within the Mainz government district.
- As the next Minister-President of Rhineland-Palatinate, one of Schweitzer's first appointments will be in the Ahr Valley, where he plans to make reconstruction the central theme in the aftermath of the flood disaster.
- Malu Dreyer's successor, Alexander Schweitzer, has previously served as Minister for Labor, Social Affairs, and Digitalization in Rhineland-Palatinate, and during his tenure, he has also gained experience in the field of further education within his super-ministry.
