Overview

• The CDU scored marquee wins including Dortmund, where Alexander Omar Kalouti unseated SPD incumbent Thomas Westphal after roughly eight decades of SPD rule.
• The SPD regained Cologne with Torsten Burmester and, despite setbacks elsewhere, continues to hold the most mayoralties in NRW, reportedly 13.
• The AfD failed to win any of its three mayoral runoffs, losing in Duisburg, Gelsenkirchen and Hagen.
• The Greens captured Münster's top post for the first time but lost the mayoralties in Bonn and Aachen.
• Mülheim corrected its preliminary count to show CDU incumbent Marc Buchholz ahead of SPD challenger Nadia Khalaf pending official confirmation, while razor-thin margins in Siegen (10 votes) and Datteln (3 votes) could prompt recounts.