Munich elects its first openly gay mayor in historic Green Party victory
Dominik Krause has been elected mayor of Munich, becoming the city's first openly gay mayor and the first Green Party politician to lead one of Germany's most prominent cities.
The 35-year-old physicist and city councillor won Sunday's run-off election with 56.4% of the vote, defeating long-serving Social Democratic Party incumbent Dieter Reiter, who had held the role since 2014. The result ends more than 70 years of unbroken SPD control of Munich's city hall, stretching back to the end of the Second World War.
Krause celebrated the win by kissing his fiancé Sebastian Müller on stage, thanking him as "the love of my life, without whom all of this would not have been possible." Writing on Instagram, he told the city: "Munich, you are simply insane. Our town has chosen to break the dawn today. Let's get it on."
The pair met at a dance school in 2007 and got engaged in 2024. Krause has spoken publicly about coming into politics after being shocked by a neo-Nazi march in the city, and has served as deputy chair of Munich ist Bunt, a community organisation that regularly organises large demonstrations against extremism.
As mayor, Krause's priorities include tackling the city's affordable housing crisis, advancing sustainable transport, strengthening climate protection and, in his own words, giving Munich "the urgently needed push for modernisation." His victory was also a broader triumph for the Greens, who took the city council election in the same vote.
The result is particularly striking given Munich's location in Bavaria, a state long dominated by the conservative CSU and not traditionally associated with progressive politics. Reiter's campaign was undermined in its final stages by revelations he had concealed details of his work for FC Bayern Munich, and a separate incident in which he used a racial slur in the city council chamber.
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