Overview
- Markus Frohnmaier was chosen as the AfD’s Minister President candidate for the 2026 Baden-Württemberg election with only one delegate opposing his nomination.
- The party filled its first 19 list positions without a single contest, reflecting an unprecedented level of internal unity at the Heilbronn conference.
- A close confidant of national co-leader Alice Weidel, Frohnmaier will not stand for a Landtag seat and intends to remain in the Bundestag if he fails to secure the state premiership.
- Both the state AfD branch and its federal leadership face surveillance by the Verfassungsschutz, which deems the Baden-Württemberg association a suspected extremist group and recently classified the national party as a secured right-wing extremist endeavor.
- Despite polling third at 19 percent in Baden-Württemberg, the AfD is isolated politically as the CDU, Greens and other major parties have firmly ruled out forming a coalition with it.