Candidates of the 2025 German federal election

Last updated January 04, 2025

This is a list of candidates for the 2025 German federal election .

Lead candidates by party

The Federal Chancellor is elected by the Bundestag on the proposal of the Federal President. In addition to this actual procedure, parties running for election put forward candidates who are intended to become Federal Chancellor if they win the election. Opinion polls take this into account in part by asking about the popularity of the Chancellor candidate [ de ].

The following are the top candidates for each party on the state lists:

SPD

Chancellor Olaf Scholz from the Social Democratic Party announced in 2022 that he would also run as the SPD's candidate for chancellor in the 2025 federal election.^[1] In addition to Scholz, Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius had also been considered as a candidate for chancellor based on popularity polls.^[2] However, Pistorius announced in November 2024 that he wanted to remain defence minister in a new government.^[3]

State	List leader	State	List leader
Baden-Württemberg	Saskia Esken	Bavaria	Carsten Träger
Berlin	Ruppert Stüwe	Brandenburg	Olaf Scholz
Bremen		Hamburg	Wolfgang Schmidt
Hesse	Sören Bartol	Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	Reem Alabali-Radovan
Lower Saxony	Lars Klingbeil	North Rhine-Westphalia	Rolf Mützenich
Rhineland-Palatinate	Tanja Machalet	Saarland	Esra Limbacher
Saxony	Kathrin Michel	Saxony-Anhalt	Martin Kröber
Schleswig-Holstein	Tim Klüssendorf	Thuringia	Carsten Schneider

CDU

In September 2024, the leaders of the CDU and CSU agreed on Friedrich Merz as candidate for chancellor. Minister-President of Bavaria Markus Söder declined.^[4] Hendrik Wüst had previously announced his withdrawal and pledged his support for Merz.^[5] Daniel Günther had also previously been named as a potential candidate.^[6]

State	List leader	State	List leader
Baden-Württemberg	Thorsten Frei	Bavaria (CSU)	Alexander Dobrindt
Berlin	Jan-Marco Luczak	Brandenburg	Uwe Feiler
Bremen	Thomas Röwekamp	Hamburg	Christoph Ploß
Hesse	Patricia Lips	Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	Philipp Amthor
Lower Saxony	Mathias Middelberg	North Rhine-Westphalia	Friedrich Merz
Rhineland-Palatinate	Julia Klöckner	Saarland	Roland Theis
Saxony	Carsten Körber	Saxony-Anhalt	Sepp Müller
Schleswig-Holstein	Johann Wadephul	Thuringia

Alliance 90/The Greens

For Alliance 90/The Greens, Annalena Baerbock announced in July 2024 that she would not run for chancellor again.^[7] Robert Habeck announced in November 2024 that he would apply for the candidacy.^[8] Both Baerbock and Habeck are expected to be their party's top candidates.^[9]

State	List leader	State	List leader
Baden-Württemberg	Franziska Brantner	Bavaria	Jamila Schäfer
Berlin	Lisa Paus	Brandenburg	Annalena Baerbock
Bremen	Kirsten Kappert-Gonther	Hamburg	Katharina Beck
Hesse	Anna Lührmann	Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	Claudia Müller
Lower Saxony	Filiz Polat	North Rhine-Westphalia	Britta Haßelmann
Rhineland-Palatinate	Misbah Khan	Saarland	Jeanne Dillschneider
Saxony	Paula Piechotta	Saxony-Anhalt	Steffi Lemke
Schleswig-Holstein	Luise Amtsberg	Thuringia	Katrin Göring-Eckardt

FDP

Christian Lindner announced in November 2024 that he would again run as the Free Democratic Party (FDP) top candidate in the 2025 federal election.^[10]

State	List leader	State	List leader
Baden-Württemberg	Judith Skudelny	Bavaria	Martin Hagen
Berlin	Christoph Meyer	Brandenburg	Linda Teuteberg
Bremen		Hamburg	Ria Schröder
Hesse	Bettina Stark-Watzinger	Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	Christian Bartelt
Lower Saxony	Christian Dürr	North Rhine-Westphalia	Christian Lindner
Rhineland-Palatinate	Carina Konrad	Saarland	Oliver Luksic
Saxony	Torsten Herbst	Saxony-Anhalt	Marcus Faber
Schleswig-Holstein	Wolfgang Kubicki	Thuringia

AfD

In June 2023, Alice Weidel announced that Alternative for Germany (AfD) would nominate a candidate for chancellor for the first time.^[11] At the end of September 2024, the two chairmen Tino Chrupalla and Alice Weidel agreed that Weidel herself should lead the party into the election campaign as candidate for chancellor.^[12] In December 2024, Weidel was nominated as candidate for chancellor by the AfD's federal executive board; the party thus wants to nominate a female candidate for chancellor for a federal election for the first time. The nomination will be decided at the party conference in January 2025.^[13]

State	List leader	State	List leader
Baden-Württemberg	Alice Weidel	Bavaria	Stephan Protschka
Berlin	Beatrix von Storch	Brandenburg	René Springer
Bremen	Sergej Minich	Hamburg	Bernd Baumann
Hesse	Jan Nolte	Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	Leif-Erik Holm
Lower Saxony	Dirk Brandes	North Rhine-Westphalia
Rhineland-Palatinate	Sebastian Münzenmaier	Saarland	Carsten Becker
Saxony	Tino Chrupalla	Saxony-Anhalt	Martin Reichardt
Schleswig-Holstein	Kurt Kleinschmidt	Thuringia	Stephan Brandner

Die Linke

In November 2024, the Die Linke party announced the chairwoman of the Bundestag group Heidi Reichinnek and the new party leader Jan van Aken as its top candidates.^[14]

State	List leader	State	List leader
Baden-Württemberg	Sahra Mirow	Bavaria	Ates Gürpinar
Berlin	Gregor Gysi	Brandenburg	Christian Görke
Bremen	Doris Achelwilm	Hamburg	Jan van Aken
Hesse	Janine Wissler	Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	Dietmar Bartsch
Lower Saxony	Heidi Reichinnek	North Rhine-Westphalia
Rhineland-Palatinate	Gerhard Trabert	Saarland
Saxony		Saxony-Anhalt	Janina Böttger
Schleswig-Holstein	Lorenz Gösta Beutin	Thuringia	Bodo Ramelow

BSW

For the BSW party, founded in January 2024, the eponymous founder Sahra Wagenknecht is expected to be the top candidate.^[15]

State	List leader	State	List leader
Baden-Württemberg	Jessica Tatti	Bavaria	Klaus Ernst
Berlin	Oliver Ruhnert	Brandenburg	Friederike Benda
Bremen	Christopher Schulze	Hamburg	Żaklin Nastić
Hesse	Ali Al-Dailami	Mecklenburg-Vorpommern	Friedrich Straetmanns
Lower Saxony	Amira Mohamed Ali	North Rhine-Westphalia	Sahra Wagenknecht
Rhineland-Palatinate	Alexander Ulrich	Saarland	Desiree Kany
Saxony	Marcel Machill	Saxony-Anhalt	Michael Lüders
Schleswig-Holstein	Milad Salami	Thuringia	Robert Henning

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References

↑ Krause, Lea-Katharina; AFP (2022-12-08). "Bundestagswahl 2025: Olaf Scholz will für zweite Amtszeit antreten". Die Zeit (in German). ISSN 0044-2070 . Retrieved 2024-12-21.
↑ "SPD-Kanzlerkandidatur: Boris Pistorius will nicht antreten". ZDFheute (in German). 2024-11-11. Retrieved 2024-12-21.
↑ Ismar, Georg (2024-09-17). "Kanzlerkandidatur der SPD: Boris Pistorius, der dritte Mann". Süddeutsche.de (in German). Retrieved 2024-12-21.
↑ tagesschau.de. "Merz wird Kanzlerkandidat der Union". tagesschau.de (in German). Retrieved 2024-12-21.
↑ "CDU: Hendrik Wüst kämpft nicht um Kanzlerkandidatur und unterstützt Friedrich Merz". Der Spiegel (in German). 2024-09-17. ISSN 2195-1349 . Retrieved 2024-12-21.
↑ "Das Kanzlerkandidaten-Karussell der Union". ZDFheute (in German). 2023-10-04. Retrieved 2024-12-21.
↑ "Baerbock schließt erneute Kanzlerkandidatur aus". tagesschau.de (in German). Retrieved 2024-12-21.
↑ Deiß, Matthias. "So begründet Habeck seine Kanzlerkandidatur". tagesschau.de (in German). Retrieved 2024-12-21.
↑ Balser, Markus; Timmler, Vivien (2024-11-14). "Grüne: Robert Habeck tritt im Spitzenduo mit Annalena Baerbock an". Süddeutsche.de (in German). Retrieved 2024-12-21.
↑ deutschlandfunk.de (2024-11-07). "Nach Bruch der Ampel-Koalition - FDP-Chef Lindner will seine Partei erneut als Spitzenkandidat in die Bundestagswahl führen". Die Nachrichten (in German). Retrieved 2024-12-21.
↑ NACHRICHTEN, n-tv. "AfD will eigenen Kanzlerkandidaten aufstellen". n-tv.de (in German). Retrieved 2024-12-21.
↑ "Weidel soll Kanzlerkandidatin der AfD sein". tagesschau.de (in German). Retrieved 2024-12-21.
↑ "Germany's far-right AfD party nominates a candidate for chancellor in the upcoming election". AP News. 2024-12-07. Retrieved 2024-12-21.
↑ "Reichinnek und van Aken wollen Die Linke retten". FAZ.NET (in German). 2024-11-10. Retrieved 2024-12-21.
↑ "Wagenknecht als Kanzlerin? BSW-Chefin nimmt Stellung". t-online (in German). 2024-03-16. Retrieved 2024-12-21.