Fulda (electoral district)

173 Fulda
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Fulda in 2025
State	Hesse
Population	273,100 (2019)
Electorate	208,542 (2021)
Major settlements	Fulda Hünfeld Lauterbach
Area	2,130.2 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	CDU
Member	Michael Brand
Elected	2005, 2009, 2013, 2017, 2021

Fulda 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 173. It is located in eastern Hesse, comprising the Fulda district and the southeastern part of the Vogelsbergkreis district.

Fulda was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2005, it has been represented by Michael Brand of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).

Geography

Fulda is located in eastern Hesse. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the entirety of the Fulda district, as well as the Vogelsbergkreis district excluding the municipalities of Alsfeld, Antrifttal, Feldatal, Gemünden (Felda), Homberg (Ohm), Kirtorf, Mücke, and Romrod.

History

Fulda was created in 1949. In the 1949 election, it was Hesse constituency 9 in the numbering system. In the 1953 through 1976 elections, it was number 134. From 1980 through 1998, it was number 132. In 2002 and 2005, it was number 176. In the 2009 election, it was number 175. In the 2013 through 2021 elections, it was number 174. From the 2025 election, it has been number 173.

Originally, the constituency comprised the independent city of Fulda and the districts of Landkreis Fulda, Lauterbach, and Schlüchtern. In the 1976 election, it comprised the district of Fulda excluding the municipalities of Burghaun, Eiterfeld, Hünfeld, Nüsttal, and Rasdorf; the municipalities of Bad Soden-Salmünster, Birstein, Brachttal, Schlüchtern, Sinntal, Steinau, Wächtersbach, Züntersbach, and the Gutsbezirk Spessart area from the Main-Kinzig-Kreis district; and the municipalities of Freiensteinau, Grebenhain, Herbstein, Lauterbach, Lautertal, Schlitz, Schotten, Ulrichstein, and Wartenberg from the Vogelsbergkreis district. In the 2002 election, it acquired borders very similar to its current configuration, but including the municipalities of Birstein, Schlüchtern, Sinntal, and Steinau an der Straße from Main-Kinzig-Kreis district, and the municipality of Schwalmtal from Vogelsbergkreis district. It acquired its current borders in the 2013 election.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1949	9	Fulda	Fulda city Landkreis Fulda district Lauterbach district Schlüchtern district
1953	134
1957
1961
1965
1969
1972
1976			Fulda district (excluding Burghaun, Eiterfeld, Hünfeld, Nüsttal, and Rasdorf municipalities) Main-Kinzig-Kreis district (only Bad Soden-Salmünster, Birstein, Brachttal, Schlüchtern, Sinntal, Steinau, Wächtersbach, and Züntersbach municipalities and the Gutsbezirk Spessart area) Vogelsbergkreis district (only Freiensteinau, Grebenhain, Herbstein, Lauterbach, Lautertal, Schlitz, Schotten, Ulrichstein, and Wartenberg municipalities)
1980	131
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998
2002	176		Fulda district Vogelsbergkreis district (excluding Alsfeld, Antrifttal, Feldatal, Gemünden (Felda), Homberg (Ohm), Kirtorf, Mücke, Romrod, and Schwalmtal municipalities) Main-Kinzig-Kreis district (only Birstein, Schlüchtern, Sinntal, and Steinau an der Straße municipalities)
2005
2009	175
2013	174		Fulda district Vogelsbergkreis district (excluding Alsfeld, Antrifttal, Feldatal, Gemünden (Felda), Homberg (Ohm), Kirtorf, Mücke, and Romrod municipalities)
2017
2021
2025	173

Members

Due to Fulda area being strongly Catholic, the constituency is considered a Christian Democratic Union (CDU) safe seat and has been held continuously by the party since its creation. It was first represented by Anton Sabel from 1949 to 1957, followed by Hermann Götz from 1957 to 1976. Alfred Dregger then served from 1976 to 1998, when he was succeeded by Martin Hohmann. Hohmann was expelled from the CDU group in 2003 for antisemitic comments, and served as an independent for the rest of his term. Michael Brand was elected in 2005, and re-elected in 2009, 2013, 2017, and 2021.

Election		Member	Party	%
	1949	Anton Sabel	CDU	43.0
	1953			53.4
	1957	Hermann Götz	CDU	59.6
	1961			54.1
	1965			54.9
	1969			56.6
	1972			55.9
	1976	Alfred Dregger	CDU	58.9
	1980			56.0
	1983			61.8
	1987			57.7
	1990			56.7
	1994			55.1
	1998	Martin Hohmann	CDU	49.5
	2002			54.0
			Ind.
	2005	Michael Brand	CDU	39.1
	2009			49.8
	2013			58.3
	2017			45.2
	2021			38.1

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Fulda
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 Michael Brand		61,573	38.1	7.1	50,312	31.1	7.8
	SPD	Birgit Kömpel		35,168	21.8	1.6	36,343	22.5	4.4
	AfD	Martin Hohmann		24,508	15.2	2.4	21,443	13.3	2.6
	FDP	Jürgen Lenders		13,894	8.6	3.3	20,528	12.7	1.9
	Greens	Gabriela Zimmermann		13,833	8.6	3.0	16,324	10.1	3.4
	Left	Nuha Sharif-Ali		4,648	2.9	1.9	4,447	2.8	3.1
	FW	Peter Klug		4,442	2.7	1.7	3,136	1.9	1.2
	dieBasis	Petra Herchenröder		2,619	1.6		2,458	1.5
	Human Environment Animal Protection						2,007	1.2	0.4
	PARTEI						1,326	0.8	0.1
	Volt						961	0.6
	Independent	Eva Hemm		520	0.3
	Bündnis C	Peter Schäfer von Reetnitz		460	0.3		468	0.3
	Pirates						442	0.3	0.0
	Team Todenhöfer						399	0.2
	NPD						239	0.1	0.3
	Gesundheitsforschung						231	0.1
	ÖDP						189	0.1	0.1
	V-Partei3						151	0.1	0.0
	Humanists						130	0.1
	Bündnis 21						71	0.0
	LKR						51	0.0
	DKP						28	0.0	0.0
	MLPD						20	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,895			1,856
Total valid votes				161,665			161,704
Turnout				163,560	78.4	1.3
	CDU hold		Majority	26,405	16.3	8.7

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Fulda
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 Michael Brand		71,946	45.2	13.2	61,811	39.0	12.2
	SPD	Birgit Kömpel		32,150	20.2	4.8	28,745	18.1	4.0
	AfD	Martin Hohmann		27,990	17.6		25,145	15.8	10.0
	Greens	Walter Michael Rammler		8,874	5.6	0.1	10,593	6.7	0.0
	FDP	Sibylle von Brunn		8,437	5.3	2.9	17,122	10.8	5.9
	Left	Nick Papak Amoozegar		7,669	4.8	0.2	9,266	5.8	1.2
	Human Environment Animal Protection						1,318	0.8
	PARTEI						1,189	0.7	0.4
	FW	Michael Hans Krebühl		1,657	1.0		1,178	0.7	0.1
	NPD	Martin Kohlhepp		576	0.4	1.6	663	0.4	1.0
	Pirates						427	0.3	1.5
	ÖDP						346	0.2
	DM						295	0.2
	BGE						277	0.2
	V-Partei³						216	0.1
	MLPD						36	0.0	0.0
	DKP						30	0.0
	BüSo						25	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,682			3,299
Total valid votes				159,299			158,682
Turnout				161,981	77.1	3.8
	CDU hold		Majority	30,796	25.0	8.3

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Fulda
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 Michael Brand		87,263	58.3	7.6	76,778	51.1	9.4
	SPD	Birgit Kömpel		37,352	25.0	1.7	33,218	22.1	2.6
	Greens	Hildegard Scheu		8,125	5.4	1.9	10,058	6.7	1.9
	Left	Wolfgang Lörcher		6,869	4.6	2.1	6,900	4.6	3.0
	AfD						8,711	5.8
	FDP	Mario Klotzsche		3,605	2.4	7.6	7,313	4.9	12.8
	Pirates	Herbert Rusche		3,390	2.3		2,715	1.8	0.1
	NPD	Hans-Joachim Bosold		2,992	2.0	0.1	2,190	1.5	0.0
	FW						1,033	0.7
	PARTEI						578	0.4
	REP						414	0.3	0.3
	PRO						162	0.1
	SGP						71	0.0
	BüSo						64	0.0	0.1
	MLPD						25	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				4,429			3,795
Total valid votes				149,596			150,320
Turnout				154,025	73.4	0.9
	CDU hold		Majority	49,911	33.3	7.4

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Fulda
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 Michael Brand		86,084	49.8	10.7	70,740	40.8	2.7
	SPD	Claudia Blum		41,388	23.9	5.8	34,783	20.1	10.5
	FDP	Mario Klotzsche		17,415	10.1	7.0	30,594	17.6	7.1
	Greens	Ernst Sporer		12,556	7.3	4.4	14,727	8.5	2.4
	Left	Wolfgang Lörcher		11,923	6.9	4.2	13,377	7.7	2.9
	Pirates						3,034	1.7
	NPD	Hans-Joachim Bosold		3,591	2.1	1.0	2,722	1.6	0.0
	Human Environment Animal Protection						1,599	0.9	0.1
	REP						1,337	0.8	0.6
	BüSo						221	0.1	0.0
	DVU						186	0.1
	MLPD						58	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				4,081			3,660
Total valid votes				172,957			173,378
Turnout				177,038	73.8	5.3
	CDU hold		Majority	44,696	25.9	16.5