Joachim-Friedrich Martin Josef Merz is a German politician who has served as Leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since January 2022 and led the CDU/CSU (Union) parliamentary group as well as been Leader of the Opposition in the Bundestag since February 2022. In September 2024,he became the Union's designated candidate for Chancellor of Germany ahead of the 2025 federal election.
Thomas Bareiß is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the German Bundestag since 2005. From 2018 to 2021,he held the position of Parliamentary State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs and Energy in Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet.
Nadine Schön is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the German Parliament since 2009,representing the constituency of St. Wendel.
Jens Georg Spahn is a German politician who served as Federal Minister of Health in the fourth cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2018 to 2021. A member of the centre-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU),he has been the member of the lower house of the federal parliament,the Bundestag,for Steinfurt I –Borken I since 2002.
Gottfried Hermann Gröhe is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Minister of Health in the third cabinet of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2013 until 2018.
Johann David Wadephul is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been a member of the German Parliament since 2009.
Annette Widmann-Mauz is a German politician of the Christian Democrats who has been serving as a member of the German Bundestag since 1998,representing the electoral district of Tübingen. In addition to her work in parliament,she served as Parliamentary State Secretary in Chancellor Angela Merkel's cabinet from 2009 until 2021.
Monika Grütters is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel from 2013-2021. She has been a member of the German Bundestag since 2005 and was chairwoman of the Committee on Culture and Media Affairs from 2009 to 2013. Since December 2016,Grütters has also been the chairwoman of the CDU Berlin and an elected member of the CDU Federal Executive Board.
Katja Isabel Leikert is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag since 2013,representing the Hanau electoral district. Within the CDU/CSU Bundestag Group,parliamentary colleagues elected her one of the alliance's eleven Bundestag deputy chairpersons in January 2018.
The 2018 Christian Democratic Union leadership election took place during the party's 31st Congress in Hamburg at the Messehallen convention center on 7–8 December following Angela Merkel's decision in October 2018 not to stand for party leader at the 2018 party conference following the party's bad performance in the 2018 Hessian state election and the party's consistently low numbers in national polls.
Kai Wegner is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as Governing Mayor of Berlin since April 2023. He served as a member of the Bundestag,the German federal parliament,from 2005 to 2021. In 2019,he became the chairman of the CDU in Berlin.
Christian Hirte is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as member of the German Bundestag since 2008. From 2020 to 2022,he has been the chairman of the CDU in Thuringia and co-deputy Chairman since then.
Andreas Jung is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Baden-Württemberg since 2005.
Günter Krings is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of North Rhine-Westphalia since 2002.
Andreas Nick is a former German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Rhineland-Palatinate from 2013 until 2021.
Christoph Ploß is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Hamburg since 2017.
Johannes Steiniger is a German teacher and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Rhineland-Palatinate since 2013.
Matthias Zimmer was a German author and politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who served as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Hesse from 2009,winning a constituency in Frankfurt am Main for three terms until 2021.
Sebastian Brehm is a German tax advisor and politician of the Christian Social Union (CSU) who has been serving as a member of the Bundestag from the state of Bavaria since 2017.
Mario Czaja is a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who has been serving as a member of the German Bundestag since the 2021 elections.
