Kaiser took his first politician position in 1981 as chairman of the Carinthian socialist youth, later in 1986 he became member of the Carinthian Gemeinderat and held this office until 1989. Kaiser was member of the Carinthian Landtag from 1989 to 1994, 1997, 2001 to July 2008, and from November 2005 on as parliamentary leader of the SPÖ. In July 2008 he became state consultant for health and sports. In 2010 Kaiser succeeded Reinhart Rohr (who left the government) as chairman of the SPÖ Carinthia and thus became second deputy governor. Beate Prettner replaced Kaiser in his position as state councilor.[2]
On 3 March 2013 the SPÖ became the biggest party again for the first time since 1994, through Kaiser as their top-candidate after the 2013 Carinthian state elections. Subsequently, he was elected governor by the Carinthian Landtag with 30 of 36 votes, and thus succeeded former officeholder Gerhard Dörfler of the Freedom Party. At his inaugural speech Kaiser spoke some words in Slovenian, the second regional language, he was the first Carinthian head of government to do so. On 2 April 2013 Kaiser was sworn in as governor of Carinthia by Federal PresidentHeinz Fischer.[3]
Kaiser was married to Larissa Krainer and has a son. Besides his political functions Kaiser has been involved for the Carinthian Volleyball union and the Jugendherbergswesen (Hostelling International).[4]
