[3] In a Deutsche Welle interview for the program Talking Germany with Peter Craven, Palmer described his father as a rebel who became a political activist in the 1950s, when "all the old fascists, all the old Nazis were back" in power, and said that his grandfather Siegfried Kilsheimer was a Jew who had to flee to the United States in 1938.

[citation needed] After graduating from Tübingen in 1999 Palmer worked as a scientific assistant for the Green Party in the Bundestag, the German Federal parliament, in Berlin.

In March 2001 he won a seat in the Landtag of Baden-Württemberg and was appointed party spokesman for environmental and transportation issues.

After being re-elected to the Landtag in March 2006, Palmer decided in July to run as mayor of Tübingen and won the election on 22 October with 50.4% of the vote.

In July 2009, Palmer was criticized for recommending antizionist activist and Tübingen resident Felicia Langer for the Federal Cross of Merit.

His use of Facebook, e.g. with regard to a landlord that was not willing to serve drinks on inn's terrace, has caused some conflicts and doubts about his diplomatic skills.

[11] After being dismissed from the Green Party, Boris Palmer ran the 2022 Tübingen Mayor Election as an independent candidate.

In December 2023, the party confirmed talks with Palmer, who wanted to become active at the local level for the Free Voters faction in the district council Kreistag.

On 5 May 2020, The New York Times reported that "Boris Palmer, the mayor of Tübingen, in the country's southwest, suggested that reviving the economy mattered more than the lives of potential coronavirus victims, whom he characterized as old and unwell.