# First Bovenschulte senate

The first Bovenschulte senate was the state government of Bremen from 2019 to 2023, sworn in on 15 August 2019 after Andreas Bovenschulte was elected as Mayor by the members of the Bürgerschaft of Bremen. It was the 25th Senate of Bremen.
It was formed after the 2019 Bremen state election by the Social Democratic Party (SPD), Alliance 90/The Greens (GRÜNE), and The Left (LINKE), and was the first government in a former West German state to include the Left party. Excluding the Mayor, the senate comprised eight ministers, called Senators. Three were members of the SPD, three were members of the Greens, and two were members of The Left.

## Formation

The previous Senate was a coalition government of the SPD and Greens led by Mayor Carsten Sieling of the SPD.
The election took place on 26 May 2019, and resulted in substantial losses for the SPD and an improvement for the Greens. The opposition CDU narrowly surpassed the SPD to become the largest party for the first time in the state's history. The Left recorded a small swing, while the AfD and FDP remained steady on 6% each. BiW retained their single seat in Bremerhaven.
After the election, CDU leader Carsten Meyer-Heder said, that he hoped to become Mayor in a coalition with the Greens and FDP, while the SPD and Left called for a coalition between the Greens and their two parties. The Greens stated that they were open to both possibilities.
After holding consultations with various parties, the Greens announced on 5 June that they would seek a coalition with the SPD and Left. Negotiations between the three parties began on 12 June. They finalised their coalition agreement on 1 July.
On the same day, Carsten Sieling announced that, due to the losses suffered by the SPD in the election, he would not stand for re-election as Mayor. On 6 July, the SPD state congress nominated Andreas Bovenschulte, who had been elected as parliamentary group leader the previous week, as Sieling's successor with 140 votes out of 146. The SPD, Greens, and Left officially signed the coalition agreement on 13 August.
Bovenschulte was elected Mayor by the Bürgerschaft on 15 August, winning 47 votes out of 82 cast.

## Composition

| Portfolio | Senator | Party | Took office | Left office | State secretaries |
| President of the Senate and Mayor Senator for Religious Affairs Senator for Culture | Andreas Bovenschulte born (1965-08-11) 11 August 1965 (age 59) | SPD | 15 August 2019 | 4 July 2023 | Thomas Emke (Head of the Senate Chancellery) Olaf Joachim (Federal, Media, Development Cooperation, and Int'l Affairs, Representative to the Federal Government) Carmen Emigholz (Culture) |
| Mayor Senator for Climate Protection, Environment, Mobility, Urban Development and Housing Construction | Maike Schaefer born (1971-06-02) 2 June 1971 (age 53) | GRÜNE | 15 August 2019 | 4 July 2023 | Ronny Meyer (Climate Protection, Environment and Mobility) Gabriele Nießen (Urban Development, Housing Construction and Central Affairs) |
| Senator for Health, Women and Consumer Protection Senate Commissioner for the Fulfilment of Women's Equality | Claudia Bernhard born (1961-02-09) 9 February 1961 (age 64) | LINKE | 15 August 2019 | 4 July 2023 | Silke Stroth |
| Senator for Finance Senate Commissioner for Data Protection | Dietmar Strehl born (1956-05-24) 24 May 1956 (age 68) | GRÜNE | 15 August 2019 | 4 July 2023 | Silke Krebs Martin Hagen |
| Senator for Interior | Ulrich Mäurer born (1951-07-14) 14 July 1951 (age 73) | SPD | 15 August 2019 | 4 July 2023 | Olaf Bull |
| Senator for Justice and Constitution Senator for Science and Harbours | Claudia Schilling born (1968-06-13) 13 June 1968 (age 56) | SPD | 15 August 2019 | 4 July 2023 | Björn Tschöpe (Justice and Constitution) Tim Cordßen-Ryglewski (Science and Harbours) |
| Senator for Children and Education | Claudia Bogedan born (1975-04-07) 7 April 1975 (age 49) | SPD | 15 August 2019 | 7 July 2021 | Arnhild Moning |
| Senator for Children and Education | Sascha Karolin Aulepp born (1970-09-24) 24 September 1970 (age 54) | SPD | 7 July 2021 | 4 July 2023 | Regine Komoss |
| Senator for Social Affairs, Youth, Integration and Sport | Anja Stahmann born (1967-06-30) 30 June 1967 (age 57) | GRÜNE | 15 August 2019 | 4 July 2023 | Jan Fries |
| Senator for Economics, Labour and Europe | Kristina Vogt born (1965-06-03) 3 June 1965 (age 59) | LINKE | 15 August 2019 | 4 July 2023 | Kai Stührenberg (Labour and Europe) Sven Wiebe (Economics) |