Marko Miholic, the deputy head of the FDP in Bremen, publicly stated that he supports Wolfgang Kubicki’s candidacy for FDP leadership, noting that Kubicki embodies an authentic spirit of freedom despite his age. He described Kubicki as the “best option right now” even if not the long-term solution for the party. Similarly, Muhanad Al-Halak, another board member, praised Kubicki as a respected friend and colleague from his time as a Member of the Bundestag, asserting that Kubicki is the right person to provide direction and actively guide the necessary revival of the party.
Kubicki also received backing from Saarland, where State Chairwoman Angelika Hießerich-Peter emphasized that the FDP needs a leader with a sharp profile who has the courage to address controversial issues and withstand opposition. She added that Kubicki meets the criteria for this, particularly concerning economic common sense and the interests of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Additionally, sources indicated that Kubicki had the support of two other board members: Katja Hessel and Karl-Heinz Paqué.
Conversely, several board members expressed reluctance or indecision. These included Christopher Vogt, the FDP State Chairman of Schleswig-Holstein; Steven Wink, who is still the parliamentary group leader for the dissolving FDP state parliamentary group in Rhineland-Palatinate; Finn Ole Ritter, the FDP State Chairman of Hamburg; Helmer Krane, a member of the “Party Reform Task Force”; Thorsten Lieb, leader of the Hesse FDP; and Hans-Ulrich Rülke, who was previously the FDP head in Baden-Württemberg.
When it came to Henning Höne, the FDP State Chairman of North Rhine-Westphalia, who also aims to run for party leader at the FDP federal party conference at the end of May, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann publicly supported him. However, no one else within the FDP board was willing to publicly back Höne following a request to the dts news agency.
In a separate development, ex-MdB Konstantin Kuhle, who currently works as a lawyer but remains a formal board advisor, reacted to a critical comment about Kubicki on LinkedIn. When Dominik Höch questioned if Kubicki would adopt a “sharply right-populist” stance, Kuhle liked the post, which drew attention from Springer executive Ulf Poschardt. Poschardt characterized Kuhle’s action as placing him at a “4.7 on the infinitely high scale of knowledge” while framing Kubicki as the “last chance for the FDP’s resurrection”.