Hendrik Wüst

Wüst's record is political rather than ceremonial. He took over the CDU in North Rhine-Westphalia at a low point and led it to 35.7 percent in the May 2022 state election, the largest share of any party and one of the few bright spots for the CDU nationally that year. In October 2026 he was elected president of the Bundesrat, a role that gives him a national platform and places him at the center of German federal politics. Those two results, a state election win and the upper house presidency, are the distinctions that define his career so far.