Overview

• Alexander Kalouti (CDU) defeated incumbent Thomas Westphal (SPD) in Dortmund with about 52.9%, ending nearly 80 years of uninterrupted SPD mayors.
• The AfD failed to win any of the three Oberbürgermeister runoffs it contested in Duisburg, Gelsenkirchen and Hagen, where SPD and CDU candidates prevailed decisively.
• The SPD regained Cologne with Torsten Burmester and now holds 13 Oberbürgermeister posts statewide, even as it ceded long‑held ground in parts of the Ruhr.
• The CDU consolidated in major cities, retaining Düsseldorf and Essen and adding Bielefeld, Leverkusen, Aachen and Bonn, prompting leaders to hail the party as NRW’s top municipal force.
• The Greens scored a first in Münster with Tilman Fuchs but lost mayoralties in Bonn and Aachen and fell short in Cologne; several close races elsewhere, including Datteln (decided by three votes) and Siegen (by ten), may see further review.