Thomas Michael Jung (born 23 April 1961 in Speyer) is an independent German local politician, media manager and journalist. Since 27 April 2026 he has been Lord Mayor of Baden-Baden. Previously, at Südwestrundfunk (SWR), he was, among other roles, head of programming at SWR3 and deputy director of Culture, Knowledge, Young Formats.
Education
From 1971 to 1980, Thomas Jung attended the Friedrich-Magnus-Schwerd-Gymnasium in Speyer and passed his Abitur (school-leaving examination) in 1980. From 1980 to 1986 he studied political science and German studies at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg. Alongside this he also took sociology up to the intermediate examination. In 1985 he obtained the Latinum (certificate of Latin proficiency), and in 1986 he completed his studies with a Magister Artium. In 1987 he undertook a two-media traineeship at Südwestfunk in Baden-Baden.
Journalistic Career at SWF and SWR
From 1980 to 1986, Jung was already a freelance contributor for print media such as the Speyerer Tagespost, the Rheinpfalz and the Mannheimer Morgen, as well as for SWF radio. From 1988 to 1993 he worked as a political correspondent for SWF in Bonn. During this time he also reported as a special correspondent from Berlin on the accession negotiations and the monetary union (1990), as well as from numerous international crisis areas, including Prague, the Balkans, Somalia and Afghanistan.
In 1993, Jung was awarded the ARD’s Kurt-Magnus-Preis, a prize given to promote up-and-coming talent for above-average achievements in radio journalism. In the same year, Jung moved to Paris as a radio correspondent, where he reported on France until 1998. From 1998 to 2004 he was SWR3 chief reporter in Baden-Baden, with special assignments in Sudan, Afghanistan, Kosovo and Russia, among others.
In 2004 he took over as head of programming at SWR3 in Baden-Baden, and from 2005 he additionally held the Prokura (authorised-signatory power) of SWR Media Services GmbH. After a period as managing director of the development lab “Junge Formate” (2011–2014), from 2013 he led the SWR3-PopUnit main department, which, in addition to SWR3, included the young format DASDING and the content-supply unit funk. As a member of the SWR steering group for Digital Transformation (2016–2019), he accompanied the broadcaster’s digital change, before finally taking over the post of deputy SWR director of Culture, Knowledge, Young Formats. In October 2025 he retired.
Until 2025, Jung represented SWR on the supervisory board and in the shareholders’ meeting of the Popakademie Baden-Württemberg in Mannheim, where until 2023 he also worked as a lecturer in the Music Business department.
Lord Mayor of Baden-Baden
After the former Lord Mayor Dietmar Späth resigned from office prematurely, Jung ran in 2026 as an independent candidate for the office of Lord Mayor of Baden-Baden. As none of the eight candidates achieved an absolute majority in the first round of voting on 8 March 2026, a runoff election was held. On 22 March 2026 he prevailed with 57.3 percent of the vote against the likewise independent rival candidate Lencke Wischhusen (42.7 percent). Voter turnout was around 42 percent. On 27 April 2026, Jung was officially inaugurated.
Immediately after the election, Jung described his approach as “a marathon, not a sprint”. First, a financial stocktaking (“Kassensturz”) was due in order to analyse the city’s financial situation — one of the central topics of the campaign: like many municipalities in Baden-Württemberg, Baden-Baden is struggling with high debt, collapsing trade-tax revenues and rising personnel costs. He named further priorities in the areas of town-centre development, tourism, mobility and the modernisation of the city administration. He sums up his motivation as follows: “Baden-Baden gave me an incredible amount over almost 30 years. And now I want to give time back to this city. To help it out of crises and give Baden-Baden a great future.”
Personal Life
Thomas Jung is married to the SWR3 presenter Anneta Politi and has two children. He lives in Baden-Baden.
Sources
- Lebenslauf Oberbürgermeister Thomas Jung on baden-baden.de (retrieved 8 June 2026) (archived)
- Patrick Neumann: Der neue Oberbürgermeister und seine Pläne: „Weg mit der Baden-Badener Arroganz", SWR Aktuell, 23 March 2026 (retrieved 8 June 2026) (archived)