Jetten grew up in Uden and subsequently studied public administration at Radboud University Nijmegen. After a period as a management trainee by the Dutch railway authorities ProRail, he continued working there as a consultant and as a regional supply manager for north-eastern Netherlands. From 2010 until 2017, Jetten represented D66 in the municipal council of Nijmegen. He was unanimously chosen by D66 as party leader succeeding Alexander Pechtold.
Political life
Jetten began his political career as a policy advisor for the D66 political faction in the Senate of the States General and as chairman of the Young Democrats. In addition, between 2010 and 2017, he was a member of the municipal council and his party chairperson in the Nijmegen municipal council. At the 2017 national parliamentary general elections, he was elected to the Dutch parliament. He became his party's spokesperson for climate, energy and gas, rail, democratic renewal and economic affairs. Jetten was co-sponsor of the Climate Act and the initiator of the Deconstitutionalization Initiative Act. This latter act constitutionally released the King's prerogative in appointing King's Commissioners and mayors. Thus it became possible to allocate these appointment to other bodies. On 23 January 2018, no fewer than 147 members of the House of Representatives voted in favor of his bill. On 13 November 2018, Jetten defended his own-initiative law in the Senate, taking a different approach than the attempt made by his party colleague Thom de Graaf in 2005 by merely changing the constitution instead of directly filling in the role and position. On October 9, 2018, Jetten was elected chairman of the parliamentary faction of D66, succeeding Alexander Pechtold. He was elected unanimously. This did not automatically make him the new party leader as this position will be decided on at a later period when the D66 candidates for the next Dutch parliament will also be determined; all party members will be eligible for this position. At age 31, Jetten became the youngest ever party leader of the Democrats66. After his election, Jetten faced criticism by Dutch media because of his relative young age.
