Landtag election: Frohnmaier is the top candidate of the AfD in Baden-Württemberg

Markus Frohnmaier, as the top candidate of the Baden-Württemberg AfD, goes to the state election 2026. At a party meeting in Heilbronn, almost all of the almost 400 delegates voted for the 34-year-old. There was a vote against. However, Frohnmaier has no realistic chances of becoming prime minister because the AfD should not achieve an absolute majority and the other parties exclude a coalition with the AfD.

The AfD state association in Baden-Württemberg is classified and observed by the constitutional protection as a right-wing extremist suspicion. In contrast, the state party complained several times – but without success.

Confidence by AfD boss Weidel

Frohnmaier has been in the Bundestag since 2017 and is considered a close confidante of AfD boss Alice Weidel. He is a co-founder of the AfD youth organization Junge Alternative, which recently dissolved. Frohnmaier was one of the first signatures of the “Erfurt Resolution”, the founding manifesto of the right “wing” around the Thuringian AfD boss Björn Höcke. The 34-year-old was repeatedly criticized for his contacts with Russian politicians. Frohnmaier is married to a Russian journalist and has two children.

In the Bundestag, Frohnmaier is deputy parliamentary group leader and spokesman for foreign policy. Although he wants to become Prime Minister in Baden-Württemberg, he does not run for the state parliament and cannot be set up for his party’s state list. If he does not become a prime minister, he would like to continue his work in the Bundestag. Frohnmaier had therefore introduced himself as a “Prime Minister candidate”, not as a top candidate.

Clearly caught up in surveys

In March 2026, Baden-Württemberg was about the successor of Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann (Greens), who no longer wants to compete in office after 15 years. For the CDU, the 37-year-old CDU state chief Manuel Hagel is running into the race, for the Greens the former Federal Minister Cem Özdemir (59).

In surveys, the AfD in the southwest is currently well there – according to a survey published in mid -May on behalf of Südwestrundfunk (SWR) and “Stuttgarter Zeitung”, the AfD in the country would come to 19 percent of the vote and thus third place after CDU and Greens.

The Federal Office for the Office for the Protection of the Constitution, the AfD nationwide at the beginning of May for “secured right -wing extremist endeavor”. On the other hand, the party is defending itself in court. Until a decision, the Federal Office no longer describes the party as secure right -wing extremist endeavors. The domestic intelligence agency gave a so -called standstill commitment in the legal dispute with the AfD.