Overview

• The 35-year-old Landtag member from Swabia secured 87.6% of votes at the JU state convention in Aschaffenburg on October 3.
• He succeeds MEP Christian Doleschal after six years at the helm of the CSU youth wing, which has more than 20,000 members and is a key talent pipeline.
• Knoll prioritized generational fairness and careful use of tax revenues and criticized potential new state borrowing.
• His mandate is limited to two years under the JU age cap, and he will lead an office tasked with feeding JU priorities into the CSU parliamentary group.
• Viewed as a compromise pick after four initial contenders, he previously won local offices in 2020 and a direct Landtag seat in 2023 ahead of Free Voters politician Fabian Mehring.