Herzkammer adé - Können wir die AfD in Gelsenkirchen wieder kleinkriegen?

In Gelsenkirchen, the AfD has achieved some of the best election results in western Germany for years. In the federal election, the party became the strongest force in Gelsenkirchen for the first time.

This is a major blow for the SPD in particular. For decades, the Social Democrats were able to achieve election results in Gelsenkirchen that only the CSU could achieve in parts of Bavaria. The Ruhr region, with Gelsenkirchen at its center, was considered the heart of German social democracy.

That is now a thing of the past. Why are so many people in the former SPD stronghold of Gelsenkirchen, of all places, voting for a party classified as right-wing extremist by the Office for the Protection of the Constitution? Why are the Social Democrats of all parties losing their traditional voter base to the AfD? And what would all the local parties have to do to keep the AfD down? What is the threat if the AfD also becomes the strongest force in the local elections on September 14?

We analyze these and other questions together with CORRECTIV reporter Marcus Bensmann, who has been researching the AfD and the strategies of the New Right for many years. He published his findings from many years of research in 2024 in the book "Niemand kann sagen, er hätte es nicht gewusst. The outrageous plans of the AfD".