Sönke Rix

Sönke Rix (born 3 December 1975) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Schleswig-Holstein from 2005 to 2025.^[1]

Sönke Rix
Rix in 2014
Member of the Bundestag
In office 2005–2025
Personal details
Born	(1975-12-03) 3 December 1975 (age 49) Eckernförde, West Germany (now Germany)
Political party	SPD

Political career

Rix first became a member of the Bundestag in the 2005 German federal election.^[2] He has since been a member of the Committee on Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.^[3] From 2014 to 2019, he served as his parliamentary group’s spokesperson on family, senior citizens, women and youth.

Within the SPD parliamentary group, Rix belonged to the Parliamentary Left, a left-wing movement.^[4]

In the negotiations to form a fourth coalition government under the leadership of Chancellor Angela Merkel following the 2017 federal elections, Rix was part of the working group on families, women, seniors and youth, led by Annette Widmann-Mauz, Angelika Niebler and Katarina Barley.

From 2019, Rix served as deputy chairman of the SPD in Schleswig-Holstein. Ahead of the 2021 elections, he was elected to lead the SPD's campaign in Schleswig-Holstein.^[5]

In the negotiations to form a so-called traffic light coalition of the SPD, the Green Party and the Free Democratic Party (FDP) following the 2021 German elections, Rix was again part of his party's delegation in the working group on children, youth and families, this time co-chaired by Serpil Midyatli, Katrin Göring-Eckardt and Stephan Thomae.^[6] Since December 2021, he has been serving as one his parliamentary group's deputy chairs, under the leadership of chairman Rolf Mützenich.^[7]

In March 2024, Rix announced that he would not stand in the 2025 federal elections but instead resign from active politics by the end of the parliamentary term.^[8]

Other activities

• German United Services Trade Union (ver.di), Member
• Greenpeace, Member