Lars Klingbeil

Early life and education

After doing his Abitur in Munster and completing his alternative civilian service, in 1999 Klingbeil began studying political science at the  University of Hanover, he graduated in 2004 with a master's degree. From 2001 to 2004 he received a scholarship from the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES).

Political career

Whilst at university Klingbeil worked in the constituency offices of Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and Heino Wiese from 2001 until 2003. After finished his studies he worked as youth education advisor for the Social Democratic Party in North Rhine-Westphalia.

Member of Parliament

From the 24 January 2005 until 18 October 2005 Klingbeil was a Member of the Bundestag after the resignation of Jann-Peter Janssen. During these 9 months Klingbeil was a member of the Committee on European Affairs, the Health Committee and a deputy member of the Defence Committee of the Bundestag.
Leaving office after the 2005 national elections, Klingbeil worked as chief of staff to the chairman of the Social Democratic Party in Lower Saxony Garrelt Duin. Furthermore, Klingbeil was a member of the SPD leadership's International Commission from 2004 until 2007, and since 2006 he has been the deputy leader of the SPD in the Soltau-Falingbostel regional council.
Klingbeil stood in the 2009 federal elections in the constituency Rotenburg I - Soltau Fallingbostel, however, he lost with 35.2% of the vote against the CDU's candidate Reinhard Grindel who had won 40.2% of the vote. He did manage to enter the Bundestag as a List MP for Lower Saxony.
Klingbeil has been a member of the Defence Committee since 2009 as well as being a deputy member of the Committee on Cultural Affairs and Media. Since 2013, he has also been leading the Bundestag group of SPD parliamentarians from Lower Saxony, the second largest delegations within the SPD parliamentary group. In addition to his committee assignments, he served as deputy chairman of the German-Russian Parliamentary Friendship Group from 2010 until 2013.
Klingbeil managed to win the constituency of Rotenburg I - Heidekreis in the 2017 elections, winning with 41.2% of vote.

Secretary General of the SPD

On 19 October 2017, Social Democratic Party chairman Martin Schulz nominated Klingbeil as Secretary General. He was confirmed on 8 December 2017 with 70.62% of the vote at the SPD Party Conference in Berlin, succeeding Hubertus Heil who had announced his resignation after the SPD disastrous loss in the 2017 election. In the negotiations to form a fourth cabinet under Chancellor Angela Merkel following the elections, he was part of the leadership team of his party’s delegation. He also led the working group on digital policy, alongside Helge Braun and Dorothee Bär.

Personal life

Klingbeil has been married to Lena-Sophie Müller since 2019.