Boris Rhein | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Rhein in 2024 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minister-President of Hesse | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Assumed office 31 May 2022 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Deputy | Tarek Al-Wazir | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Volker Bouffier | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| President of theLandtag of Hesse | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 18 January 2019 – 31 May 2022 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Norbert Kartmann | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Astrid Wallmann | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1972-01-02)2 January 1972 (age 53) Frankfurt am Main,Hesse,West Germany (now Germany) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | Christian Democratic Union (1990–) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Spouse | Tanja Raab-Rhein | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Children | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Education | Goethe University Frankfurt | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Boris Rhein (born 2 January 1972) is a German lawyer and politician of theChristian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving asMinister-President of Hesse since 2022. He has been active in the politics ofHesse since the late 1990s. After being elected to theLandtag of Hesse in 1999, he served as the state's Minister for the Interior from 2010 until 2014 and as the Minister for Science and Art from 2014 to 2019. On 31 May 2022, he was elected to succeedVolker Bouffier as theMinister-President of Hesse. He led the CDU to a victory in the2023 Hessian state election.
Rhein was born on 2 January 1972 inFrankfurt am Main. His father, Peter Rhein, headed a department at a local school.[1] After obtaining hisAbitur at Frankfurt'sLessing-Gymnasium, Rhein studied law atGoethe University Frankfurt from 1991 until 1997. From 2001 until 2006, he practiced as a lawyer in his hometown.[2]
In 1990, Rhein joinedJunge Union, the youth wing of theChristian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU), and served on organisation's state board from 1996 until 2002.
At the1999 Hessian state election Rhein was elected to a seat in theLandtag of Hesse, which he occupied until 2006. He then returned to the state parliament at the2013 Hessian state election. From 2008 to 2012, he led his party in the city of Frankfurt[1] and ran to becomeits mayor in 2012, but lost to thesocial democratPeter Feldmann.[3] Feldmann would be ousted as Mayor by a recall election in the same year he became Minister-President.
Rhein was appointed aStaatssekretär in the Hessian State Ministry of Justice in 2009, but was soon promoted to Staate Minister of the Interior when the CDU-politicianVolker Bouffier became theMinister-President of Hesse.[1] His tenure was perceived asconservative by the German media:[3] he endorsed statedata retention and a harsherpenal code in cases of violence against police officers. In 2014, he was moved to the position of Minister for Science and Art, a position he held until 2019. In the same year, he was elected President of the Hessian Landtag.[1]
In 2022, Volker Bouffier, the state's Minister-President and leader of the Hessian CDU, announced that he would vacate his office and designated Rhein as his successor. According to the German dailySüddeutsche Zeitung, he was chosen overPeter Beuth, the Minister of the Interior,Michael Boddenberg, the Minister of Finance, andInes Claus [de], the party's leader in the state parliament, because of his standing withAlliance 90/The Greens, the CDU's coalition partner. He was elected to the office of Minister-President on 31 May 2022.[4]
In his capacity as Minister-President, Rhein has been one of Hesse's representatives on theBundesrat, where he serves on the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Defence Committee.[5]
In the2023 Hessian state election, Rhein's CDU received 34.6% of the vote, remaining the larges party in the state parliament and increasing its share by 7.6%.[6]
Even though Rhein was considered a conservative State Minister of the Interior, he rejected this description of his tenure by saying that the office required a rigid enforcement of the law. Citing sources within the party,Süddeutsche Zeitung writes that Rhein had acquired a more centrist profile in the aftermath of his defeat in the 2012 Frankfurt mayoral election.[3]
Rhein is married to Tanja Raab-Rhein, a judge and CDU activist. They have two sons, Oskar and Bruno.[1] He lives in Frankfurt and is a member of theCatholic Church.[2]
| Political offices | ||
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| Preceded by | Minister-President of Hesse 2022– | Succeeded by Incumbent |
| People's State of Hesse (est. 1918) |  | |
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| Nazi period (1933–45) | ||
| Greater Hesse (1945–46) | ||
| Modern Hesse (since 1946) | ||
| International | |
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