Dagmar Mühlenfeld (born March 2, 1951, in

Mülheim an der Ruhr Mülheim, officially Mülheim an der Ruhr (, ; ; ) and also described as ''"City on the River"'', is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia in western Germany. It is located in the Ruhr Area between Duisburg, Essen, Oberhausen and Ratingen. It is home ...

) is a German local politician of the

SPD The Social Democratic Party of Germany ( , SPD ) is a social democratic political party in Germany. It is one of the major parties of contemporary Germany. Saskia Esken has been the party's leader since the 2019 leadership election together wi ...

and former directly elected

Lord Mayor Lord mayor is a title of a mayor of what is usually a major city in a Commonwealth realm, with special recognition bestowed by the sovereign. However, the title or an equivalent is present in other countries, including forms such as "high mayor". A ...

of the city of Mülheim an der Ruhr. Since September 20, 2007, she has been a member of the Supervisory Board of

RWE RWE AG is a German multinational energy company headquartered in Essen. It generates and trades electricity in the Asia-Pacific region, Europe and the United States. In July 2020, RWE completed a far-reaching asset swap deal with E.ON first ...

AG.

Family and career

Dagmar Mühlenfeld has lived in the city on the

Ruhr The Ruhr ( ; , also ''Ruhrpott'' ), also referred to as the Ruhr Area, sometimes Ruhr District, Ruhr Region, or Ruhr Valley, is a polycentric urban area in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With a population density of 1,160/km2 and a populati ...

since birth; she is married and has a grown-up son. Her husband Rolf Mühlenfeld has been a

city councillor A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

in Mülheim an der Ruhr since 1999. Dagmar Mühlenfeld was originally a teacher; she passed state examinations for the teaching profession at grammar schools in the subjects of German and history. Before taking office as Lord Mayor, she worked as

head teacher A headmaster/headmistress, head teacher, head, school administrator, principal or school director (sometimes another title is used) is the staff member of a school with the greatest responsibility for the management Management (or managing ...

of the Luisenschule municipal grammar school. Dagmar Mühlenfeld graduated from the same school in 1969. Dagmar Mühlenfeld is a member of the supervisory board of

AG.

Politics

Dagmar Mühlenfeld has been a member of the SPD since May 1, 1975. In 2001, she prevailed in a competitive vote for the chairmanship of the Mülheim SPD against the previous incumbent Thomas Schröer, who had come under criticism within the party. Until then, Dagmar Mühlenfeld had chaired the Heißen SPD local association in Mülheim an der Ruhr for several years. After the resignation of the previous Lord Mayor Jens Baganz for personal reasons in November 2002, new elections for the office of Lord Mayor were scheduled for March 2003. The Mülheim SPD nominated Dagmar Mühlenfeld as its candidate for the early mayoral elections by ballot. On March 23, 2003, she was first put forward for the run-off election, which she won on April 6, 2003, with just under 53 percent of the votes cast and a little under 40 percent

voter turnout In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This is typically either the percentage of Voter registration, registered voters, Suffrage, eligible voters, or all Voti ...

against the CDU candidate. In 2003, Dagmar Mühlenfeld handed over the office of Mülheim SPD chairwoman to her former deputy Frank Esser. In the mayoral election on August 30, 2009, Mühlenfeld was confirmed in office for another five years with 43.1% of the vote. The largest project she has driven forward is the Ruhrbania project. During her term as mayor, Mühlenfeld was a member of the German delegation to the

Committee of the Regions The European Committee of the Regions (CoR) is the European Union's (EU) assembly of local and regional representatives that provides sub-national authorities (i.e. regions, counties, provinces, municipalities and cities) with a direct voice w ...

and deputy chairman of the plenary assembly of the Regionalverband Ruhr. She was also co-founder and spokesperson of the Action Alliance "Get out of Debt!" and, from April 25, 2013, until she left office, Deputy President of the Deutschen Städtetag. On February 9, 2015, it was announced that Mühlenfeld would not be standing for re-election as mayor in 2015. Mülheim voters elected Mühlenfeld's party leader on 13 September 2015. September 2015 Mühlenfeld's party colleague Ulrich Scholten as his successor in the office of Lord Mayor, who took office on October 21, 2015.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Muhlenfeld, Dagmar 1951 births Living people German women in politics 20th-century German politicians 21st-century German politicians Mayors of places in North Rhine-Westphalia People from Ennepe-Ruhr-Kreis Social Democratic Party of Germany politicians