Overview

• Alexander Omar Kalouti (CDU) won Dortmund with 52.92 percent, ending nearly eight decades of uninterrupted SPD control of the mayor’s office.
• In Duisburg, incumbent Sören Link (SPD) defeated AfD challenger Carsten Groß by a wide margin with 78.6 percent of the vote.
• Andrea Henze (SPD) prevailed in Gelsenkirchen with 66.9 percent against AfD candidate Norbert Emmerich.
• AfD candidates were shut out of the major mayoralties, including Hagen, where Dennis Rehbein (CDU) defeated Michael Eiche.
• Turnout varied widely, with notably higher participation reported in AfD-contested Ruhr cities such as Duisburg and Gelsenkirchen, and the strengthened AfD presence in councils—especially Gelsenkirchen’s 20–20 split with the SPD—signals harder majority-building after roughly 147 runoffs across NRW.