The big day is almost here and Germany’s election campaign season is heating up. With just two weeks to go, debates are being televised, parties are having literal parties, and local candidates handing out brochures to anyone who will take them. While the chancellor candidates are taking center stage, the German political machine is so much more than Annalena Baerbock, Olaf Scholz, and Armin Laschet.

In this episode, we speak to Julius van de Laar, a political strategist and communications expert with extensive campaigning experience of his own. He helps answer our questions about campaign finance, how political foundations play a role in campaigning both in Germany and abroad, and how candidates are slowly (but surely) devoting more of their time and funds to digital advertising. We also get into the nitty gritty of public and private donations, and the talk of “dark money”. And Julius also shares a bit about his own experience as a campaign strategist and how he helps German candidates.

Thank you Julius for chatting with us, Pirate Studios for making our recordings possible, and Epidemic Sound for the theme song.

If you enjoyed this episode and would like to hear more, help us make that happen by donating to our PayPal. The linked account is info@bearradio.org - all donors will receive a virtual hug and a loving shoutout in the next episode.

Our theme song is City Phases by John Abbot, also featuring audio from
Deutsche Welle (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bE7pKkeoUHw&t=5s),
Deutsche Welle (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mVGsFhd9oY&t=22s),
Deutsche Welle (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i52MGlRWf3Q&t=367s)
and TLDR News EU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RchwILo7HhQ&t=24s).