Party
Baldauf was inspired by the political turnaround proclaimed by Helmut Kohl and has been a member of the CDU since 1983. From 1992 to 1996,he led the Young Union in the Frankenthal district association as chairman. From 1999 to 2007,he was chairman of the Frankenthal CDU district association. His successor was Sonja Schönherr.
Baldauf has been a member of the Frankenthal city council since 1994 and deputy chairman of the CDU council faction since 2002. [5] [6]
Baldauf was a member of the federal assemblies in 2009,2010,2012 and 2017. In the run-up to the 16th federal assembly in 2017,he announced that he would not vote for Frank-Walter Steinmeier. [7]
Parliamentarian
Since the state parliament elections in 2001,Baldauf has represented the electoral district of Frankenthal,which includes the city of Frankenthal as well as part of the Rhein-Pfalz district. He was able to defend the constituency in the 2006,2011 and 2016 elections.
- Parliamentary group chairman
From 2006 to 2011,Baldauf was chairman of the state parliamentary group. After the 2011 state election,he left the caucus chairmanship to Julia Klöckner,who was the top candidate,and served as first deputy chairman until spring 2018. After Klöckner became Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture in March 2018 and renounced her mandate in the state parliament,Baldauf has again been chairman of the state parliamentary group since 16 March 2018 and is thus also the leader of the opposition in the state parliament. He is a member of the CDU/CSU parliamentary group conference.
- Committee work
Baldauf has been a regular member of the Council of Elders,Budget and Finance Committee,and the Interim Committee in the 17th legislative period of the state parliament since 2016. In previous legislative periods,Baldauf was a member of the Committee for Justice and Consumer Protection,Committee for the Economy,Climate Protection,Energy and State Planning,Committee for Social Affairs,Labor,Health and Demography,and the Data Protection Commission,among others.
He was a member of the Rodalben investigative committee,which looked into the background and responsibilities surrounding the death of a kindergarten teacher at the Rodalben youth center. A 26-year-old female professional had been killed by knife wounds during the escape of three youths in November 2003. In the committee of inquiry,accusations were made against the then Minister of Social Affairs,Malu Dreyer. Baldauf was the chairman of his parliamentary group in the investigative committee on the Nürburgring affair. There,the affair of the failed private financing of a leisure park at the Ring,in which the state lost more than €500 million and in connection with which Finance Minister Ingolf Deubel had to resign in July 2009,was dealt with. Deubel was later sentenced to imprisonment by the Koblenz Regional Court for breach of trust and making false statements under oath to the investigative committee and had to serve his prison term in 2020.
In June 2019,Baldauf was proposed by the state executive board as the top candidate for the 2021 state elections. [11]
