Esslingen (electoral district)

261 Esslingen
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Esslingen in 2025
State	Baden-Württemberg
Population	251,600 (2019)
Electorate	166,628 (2021)
Major settlements	Esslingen am Neckar Ostfildern Plochingen
Area	208.7 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	CDU
Member	Markus Grübel
Elected	2002, 2005, 2009, 2013, 2017, 2021

Esslingen is an electoral constituency (German: Wahlkreis) represented in the Bundestag. It elects one member via first-past-the-post voting. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as constituency 261. It is located in central Baden-Württemberg, comprising the northern part of the Esslingen district.

Esslingen was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2002, it has been represented by Markus Grübel of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

Geography

Esslingen is located in central Baden-Württemberg. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises municipalities of Aichwald, Altbach, Baltmannsweiler, Deizisau, Denkendorf, Esslingen am Neckar, Hochdorf, Köngen, Lichtenwald, Neuhausen auf den Fildern, Ostfildern, Plochingen, Reichenbach an der Fils, Wendlingen am Neckar, and Wernau from the Esslingen district.

History

Esslingen was created in 1949, then known as Eßlingen. It acquired its current name in the 1980 election. In the 1949 election, it was Württemberg-Baden Landesbezirk Württemberg constituency 6 in the numbering system. In the 1953 through 1961 elections, it was number 168. In the 1965 through 1976 elections, it was number 171. In the 1980 through 1998 elections, it was number 165. In the 2002 and 2005 elections, it was number 262. Since the 2009 election, it has been number 261.

Originally, the constituency comprised the Eßlingen district and the municipalities of Aichtal, Altdorf, Altenriet, Bempflingen, Beuren, Erkenbrechtsweiler, Frickenhausen, Grafenberg, Großbettlingen, Nürtingen, Neuffen, Kohlberg, Neckartailfingen, Neckartenzlingen, Oberboihingen, Schlaitdorf, and Unterensingen from the Nürtingen district. In the 1965 through 1976 elections, it was coterminous with the Eßlingen district. It acquired its current borders in the 1980 election.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1949	6	Eßlingen	Eßlingen district Nürtingen district (only Aichtal, Altdorf, Altenriet, Bempflingen, Beuren, Erkenbrechtsweiler, Frickenhausen, Grafenberg, Großbettlingen, Nürtingen, Neuffen, Kohlberg, Neckartailfingen, Neckartenzlingen, Oberboihingen, Schlaitdorf, and Unterensingen municipalities)
1953	168
1957
1961
1965	171		Eßlingen district
1969
1972
1976
1980	165	Esslingen	Esslingen district (only Aichwald, Altbach, Baltmannsweiler, Deizisau, Denkendorf, Esslingen am Neckar, Hochdorf, Köngen, Lichtenwald, Neuhausen auf den Fildern, Ostfildern, Plochingen, Reichenbach an der Fils, Wendlingen am Neckar, and Wernau municipalities)
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998
2002	262
2005
2009	261
2013
2017
2021
2025

Members

The constituency has been held by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) during all but four Bundestag terms since its creation. It was first represented by Franz Ott from 1949 to 1953; Ott was one of three independents elected to the first Bundestag. Thomas Ruf of the CDU won it in 1953 and served until 1972, when Volker Hauff of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) was elected. Gerd Langguth regained it for the CDU in 1976, but Hauff was elected again in 1980. Otto Hauser won it for the CDU in 1983 and served until 1998, when Siegmar Mosdorf of the SPD was elected. Markus Grübel of the CDU has been representative since 2002.

Election		Member	Party	%
	1949	Franz Ott	Ind.	28.0
	1953	Thomas Ruf	CDU	43.2
	1957			49.6
	1961			39.0
	1965			48.8
	1969			46.6
	1972	Volker Hauff	SPD	49.1
	1976	Gerd Langguth	CDU	48.7
	1980	Volker Hauff	SPD	47.6
	1983	Otto Hauser	CDU	50.7
	1987			50.8
	1990			49.3
	1994			47.3
	1998	Siegmar Mosdorf	SPD	45.9
	2002	Markus Grübel	CDU	45.0
	2005			46.8
	2009			43.5
	2013			51.3
	2017			40.0
	2021			32.0

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Esslingen
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	CDU	Y Markus Grübel		41,976	32.0	8.0	33,175	25.3	8.0
	SPD	Argyri Paraschaki		28,501	21.8	2.6	29,852	22.8	6.0
	Greens	Sebastian Schäfer		24,058	18.4	3.1	23,902	18.2	3.7
	FDP	Robert Langer		16,011	12.2	3.5	20,901	15.9	2.2
	AfD	Boris Malewski		9,123	7.0	3.8	9,733	7.4	3.5
	Left	Anil Beşli		3,477	2.7	3.2	4,063	3.1	3.1
	FW	Holger Fritz		2,844	2.2		1,969	1.5	0.8
	dieBasis	Stefan Zweifel		2,256	1.7		1,928	1.5
	Human Environment Animal Protection						1,457	1.1	0.2
	PARTEI	Daniela Negt		1,758	1.3		1,113	0.8	0.1
	Team Todenhöfer						943	0.7
	Pirates						395	0.3	0.2
	Volt	Andreas Jakobi		504	0.4		366	0.3
	ÖDP						329	0.3	0.0
	Bündnis C						185	0.1
	Humanists	Wolfgang Hamberger		306	0.2		186	0.1
	Gesundheitsforschung						161	0.1
	Bürgerbewegung						120	0.1
	DiB						91	0.1	0.1
	MLPD	Hubert Bauer		206	0.2	0.1	95	0.1	0.1
	NPD						82	0.1	0.2
	LKR						29	0.0
	Bündnis 21						25	0.0
	DKP						21	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				868			767
Total valid votes				131,020			131,121
Turnout				131,888	79.2	1.1
	CDU hold		Majority	13,475	10.2	10.6

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Esslingen
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	CDU	Y Markus Grübel		53,665	40.0	11.2	44,748	33.3	11.5
	SPD	Regina Rapp		25,697	19.2	6.1	22,579	16.8	5.1
	Greens	Stephanie Reinhold		20,501	15.3	4.2	19,565	14.6	2.5
	AfD	Stephan Köthe		14,390	10.7	7.7	14,692	10.9	6.4
	FDP	Sven Kobbelt		11,657	8.7	6.8	18,512	13.8	7.7
	Left	Martin Auerbach		7,853	5.9	2.1	8,361	6.2	1.7
	Human Environment Animal Protection						1,243	0.9	0.1
	FW						992	0.7	0.2
	PARTEI						979	0.7
	Pirates						708	0.5	1.7
	ÖDP						314	0.2	0.0
	NPD						290	0.2	0.5
	Tierschutzallianz						266	0.2
	BGE						223	0.1
	DiB						202	0.2
	DM						187	0.1
	V-Partei³						178	0.1
	MLPD	Gabriele Conrad		355	0.3		171	0.1	0.0
	Menschliche Welt						140	0.1
	DIE RECHTE						27	0.0
	DKP						8	0.0
Informal votes				1,361			1,094
Total valid votes				134,118			134,385
Turnout				135,479	80.3	2.6
	CDU hold		Majority	27,968	20.8	5.3

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Esslingen
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	CDU	Y Markus Grübel		65,825	51.3	7.8	57,598	44.8	11.2
	SPD	Michael Wechsler		32,379	25.2	3.4	28,205	21.9	1.2
	Greens	Jürgen Menzel		14,236	11.1	1.4	15,483	12.0	3.6
	Left	Stefan Dreher		4,788	3.7	1.3	5,862	4.6	1.6
	AfD	Anna Schupeck		3,871	3.0		5,835	4.5
	Pirates	Marco Hauke		2,936	2.3		2,871	2.2	0.6
	FDP	Stefan Schreckenbauer		2,474	1.9	6.8	7,859	6.1	12.3
	Human Environment Animal Protection						1,110	0.9	0.4
	REP	Eberhard Köhler		1,004	0.8		873	0.7	0.6
	NPD	Martin Krämer		912	0.7	0.7	880	0.7	0.2
	FW						647	0.5
	ÖDP						302	0.2	0.0
	RENTNER						245	0.2
	PBC						165	0.1	0.1
	Volksabstimmung						152	0.1	0.1
	BIG						143	0.1
	MLPD						111	0.1	0.0
	Party of Reason						89	0.1
	PRO						88	0.1
	BüSo						18	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,275			1,164
Total valid votes				128,425			128,536
Turnout				129,700	77.7	1.7
	CDU hold		Majority	33,446	26.1	11.2

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Esslingen
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	CDU	Y Markus Grübel		53,829	43.5	3.4	41,672	33.6	4.4
	SPD	Karin Roth		35,396	28.6	10.6	25,797	20.8	10.9
	Greens	Andrea Lindlohr		15,511	12.5	5.9	19,402	15.6	4.1
	FDP	Rena Farquhar		10,819	8.7	5.7	22,873	18.4	6.6
	Left	Rainer Hauenschild		6,225	5.0	2.2	7,680	6.2	3.0
	Pirates						2,051	1.7
	REP						1,601	1.3	0.3
	NPD	Karin Feindt		1,768	1.4	0.0	1,069	0.9	0.1
	Human Environment Animal Protection						582	0.5
	ÖDP						351	0.3
	PBC						275	0.2	0.1
	Volksabstimmung						239	0.2
	DIE VIOLETTEN						210	0.2
	MLPD	Dorothea Jauernig		299	0.2		148	0.1	0.0
	BüSo						68	0.1	0.0
	ADM						50	0.0
	DVU						40	0.0
Informal votes				1,711			1,450
Total valid votes				123,847			124,108
Turnout				125,558	76.0	5.9
	CDU hold		Majority	18,433	14.9	7.2