Overview

• No AfD candidate won an executive post in NRW, with defeats in the Oberbürgermeister runoffs in Duisburg, Gelsenkirchen and Hagen.
• The CDU captured Dortmund with Alexander Omar Kalouti on 52.92 percent, ending roughly 80 years of SPD leadership, and now leads three of the five largest NRW cities after wins in Düsseldorf and Essen.
• The SPD regained Cologne as Torsten Burmester won with 53.5 percent and says it still holds 13 Oberbürgermeister offices statewide despite setbacks such as Dortmund.
• The Greens recorded a first in Münster with Tilman Fuchs on 57.91 percent but lost mayoralties in Bonn and Aachen and were beaten in Cologne.
• Party leaders responded Monday: NRW Ministerpräsident Hendrik Wüst hailed a mandate for pragmatic center-right governance, while SPD officials called the outcome mixed and began formal analyses as Chancellor Friedrich Merz meets the NRW CDU board in Düsseldorf.