Baden-Württemberg: Hail is CDU top candidate for state election

Baden-Württemberg’s CDU state chief Manuel Hagel, as the top candidate of his party, goes to the state election 2026. At the party congress of the Southwest CDU in Stuttgart, he received 272 out of 290 valid votes-93.8 percent approval. The 37-year-old wants to be the successor by Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens), who no longer competes in the election in March 2026.

The Southwest CDU is the second largest national association of the CDU. It is as closed as it has not been for a long time – and according to surveys, it has good chances of replacing the Greens in the country at the top of the government. Hagel goes into the race in the election campaign against ex-Federal Minister Cem Özdemir (Greens).

Politics for the “normal” middle

Hundreds of delegates came together in the Carl-Benz-Arena, including the former Prime Minister Günther Oettinger and Stefan Mappus. According to his own words, Hail wants to make politics for the quiet bourgeois center. “The bourgeois center is not loud and shrill, it is not outraged, it is simply normal,” said the 37-year-old in his application speech. The CDU wants to be the “political home of the hardworking”, the “club of normal people,” said Hagel. In his speech, Hagel also paid tribute to Prime Minister Kretschmann, the measure and middle when his party is romping.

CDU federal manager Friedrich Merz is also invited to the keynote speaker at the party congress in Stuttgart – his first appearance as a chancellor at a party congress. The 2026 state election should also be a first mood test for its federal government. And the Christian Democrats in the southwest are dependent on good performance in Berlin.