Rhein-Neckar (electoral district)

Rhein-Neckar is an electoral constituency (German: Wahlkreis) represented in the Bundestag. It elects one member via first-past-the-post voting. Under the current constituency numbering system, it is designated as constituency 277. It is located in northwestern Baden-Württemberg, comprising most of the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis district.^[1]

277 Rhein-Neckar
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Rhein-Neckar in 2025
State	Baden-Württemberg
Population	271,100 (2019)
Electorate	195,506 (2025)
Major settlements	Sinsheim Wiesloch Walldorf
Area	724.8 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Member	Vacant
Elected	2025

Rhein-Neckar was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Whilst the Christian Democratic Union won a plurality in the 2025 election, under the new voting system, their candidate did not actually win a seat in the Bundestag. This was due to the distribution of seats won by the CDU being decided by the first (direct) vote percentage of each winning CDU candidate, determining who took the seats. As the CDU candidate got a low vote of 34.4%, the seat will remain vacant throughout the 21st Bundestag.^[2]

Geography

Rhein-Neckar is located in northwestern Baden-Württemberg. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the entirety of the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis district excluding the municipalities of Dossenheim, Edingen-Neckarhausen, Eppelheim, Heddesheim, Hemsbach, Hirschberg an der Bergstraße, Ilvesheim, Ladenburg, Laudenbach, Schriesheim, Weinheim, Altlußheim, Brühl, Hockenheim, Ketsch, Neulußheim, Oftersheim, Plankstadt, Reilingen, and Schwetzingen.^[1]

History

Rhein-Neckar was created in 1949, then known as Sinsheim. In the 1965 through 1976 elections, it was named Heidelberg-Land – Sinsheim. It acquired its current name in the 1980 election. In the 1949 election, it was Württemberg-Baden Landesbezirk Baden constituency 7 in the number system. In the 1953 through 1961 elections, it was number 181. In the 1965 through 1976 elections, it was number 184. In the 1980 through 1998 elections, it was number 182. In the 2002 and 2005 elections, it was number 278. Since the 2009 election, it has been number 277.

Originally, the constituency comprised the district of Mosbach as well as the Sinsheim district excluding the municipalities of Kürnbach, Mühlbach, Sulzfeld, and Zaisenhausen. In the 1965 through 1976 elections, it comprised the district of Sinsheim as well as the Landkreis Heidelberg district excluding the municipality of Eppelheim. It acquired its current borders in the 1980 election.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1949	7	Sinsheim	Mosbach district Sinsheim district (excluding Kürnbach, Mühlbach, Sulzfeld, and Zaisenhausen municipalities)
1953	181
1957
1961
1965	184	Heidelberg-Land – Sinsheim	Sinsheim district Landkreis Heidelberg district (excluding Eppelheim municipality)
1969
1972
1976
1980	182	Rhein-Neckar	Rhein-Neckar-Kreis district (excluding Dossenheim, Edingen-Neckarhausen, Eppelheim, Heddesheim, Hemsbach, Hirschberg an der Bergstraße, Ilvesheim, Ladenburg, Laudenbach, Schriesheim, Weinheim, Altlußheim, Brühl, Hockenheim, Ketsch, Neulußheim, Oftersheim, Plankstadt, Reilingen, and Schwetzingen municipalities)
1983
1987
1990
1994
1998
2002	278
2005
2009	277
2013
2017
2021
2025

Members

The constituency has been held continuously by the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) since its creation. It was first represented by Eugen Leibfried from 1949 to 1957, followed by Fritz Baier from 1957 to 1976. Alfred Hubertus Neuhaus served from 1976 to 1983. Bernd Schmidbauer was representative from 1983 to 2009, a total of seven consecutive terms. Stephan Harbarth was elected in 2009, and re-elected in 2013 and 2017. He resigned in November 2018 after being elected to the Federal Constitutional Court. He was succeeded by Moritz Oppelt in the 2021 federal election. The seat has been vacant since the 2025 election.

Election		Member	Party	%
	1949	Eugen Leibfried	CDU	37.8
	1953			48.5
	1957	Fritz Baier	CDU	50.8
	1961			48.8
	1965			54.4
	1969			52.4
	1972			51.4
	1976	Alfred Hubertus Neuhaus	CDU	53.2
	1980			50.3
	1983	Bernd Schmidbauer	CDU	55.5
	1987			50.0
	1990			49.2
	1994			49.3
	1998			44.2
	2002			46.5
	2005			47.4
	2009	Stephan Harbarth	CDU	42.3
	2013			49.7
	2017			37.4
	2021	Moritz Oppelt	CDU	28.5
	2025	Vacant[a]

Election results

2025 election

Under the new voting system implemented for the 2025 election, although the CDU candidate won the most votes in this constituency, due to the low winning percentage, the constituency seat will remain vacant as not enough second (party) votes were won to be allocated this seat.

Federal election (2025): Mannheim[3]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	CDU	N Moritz Oppelt[a]		55,932	34.4	5.9	50,684	31.1	5.6
	AfD	Achim Köhler		33,084	20.4	10.3	33,689	20.7	10.4
	SPD	Dr. Lars Dietmar Castellucci		33,082	20.4	6.7	25,577	15.7	7.8
	Greens	Jürgen Kretz		17,909	11.0	3.9	20,053	12.3	3.5
	Left	Justus Heine		8,276	5.1	2.5	10,194	6.3	3.4
	FDP	Dr. Jens Brandenburg		7,029	4.3	7.3	9,194	5.6	8.7
	BSW						6,549	4.0
	FW	Joachim Helmut Förster		4,754	2.9	0.3	2,214	1.4	0.4
	APT						1,538	0.9	0.4
	Volt	Mike Kevin Matthes		2,413	1.5		1,437	0.9	0.4
	PARTEI						740	0.5	0.4
	dieBasis						422	0.3	1.3
	Bündnis C						288	0.2	0.1
	ÖDP						222	0.1
	BD						180	0.1
	MLPD						35	0.0
Informal votes				1,465			928
Total valid votes				162,479			163,016
Turnout				163,944	83.9	5.6
	Vacant gain from CDU		Majority

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Rhein-Neckar[4]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	CDU	Moritz Oppelt		43,487	28.5	8.9	38,871	25.5	8.0
	SPD	Lars Castellucci		41,205	27.0	3.1	35,847	23.5	5.1
	Greens	Jürgen Kretz		22,696	14.9	5.3	24,072	15.8	4.3
	FDP	Jens Brandenburg		17,769	11.7	3.5	21,941	14.4	2.1
	AfD	Stefan Holzmann		15,296	10.0	3.0	15,701	10.3	3.3
	Left	Ecevit Emre		4,006	2.6	2.6	4,320	2.8	3.5
	FW	Domenic Arnold		3,979	2.6	1.1	2,620	1.7	0.8
	dieBasis	Michael Dietz		3,238	2.1		2,436	1.6
	Tierschutzpartei						2,033	1.3	0.5
	PARTEI						1,362	0.9	0.0
	Independent	Daniel Schmitt		821	0.5
	Volt						680	0.4
	Team Todenhöfer						614	0.4
	Pirates						546	0.4	0.0
	Bündnis C						363	0.2
	ÖDP						275	0.2	0.0
	NPD						244	0.2	0.2
	Gesundheitsforschung						234	0.2
	Bürgerbewegung						142	0.1
	Humanists						134	0.1
	DiB						104	0.1	0.0
	LKR						45	0.0
	MLPD						33	0.0	0.0
	DKP						33	0.0	0.0
	Bündnis 21						31	0.0
Informal votes				1,588			1,403
Total valid votes				152,497			152,682
Turnout				154,085	78.3	0.6
	CDU hold		Majority	2,282	1.5	12.0

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Rhein-Neckar[5]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	CDU	Y Stephan Harbarth		57,788	37.4	12.2	51,797	33.5	10.3
	SPD	Lars Castellucci		36,886	23.9	2.0	28,486	18.4	3.8
	AfD	Achim Köhler		20,177	13.1	8.5	20,942	13.5	7.5
	Greens	Memet Kiliç		14,792	9.6	1.3	17,687	11.4	1.9
	FDP	Jens Brandenburg		12,571	8.1	5.6	18,933	12.2	5.8
	Left	Heinrich Stürtz		8,010	5.2	1.2	9,738	6.3	1.5
	FW	Kay-Olaf Ballerstädt		2,255	1.5		1,381	0.9	0.3
	PARTEI	Simon Schäfer		1,937	1.3		1,376	0.9
	Tierschutzpartei						1,252	0.8	0.1
	Pirates						615	0.4	2.3
	NPD						534	0.3	1.0
	Tierschutzallianz						362	0.2
	ÖDP						327	0.2	0.1
	DM						259	0.2
	V-Partei³						241	0.2
	BGE						194	0.1
	Menschliche Welt						194	0.1
	DiB						183	0.1
	DIE RECHTE						70	0.0
	MLPD						68	0.0	0.0
	DKP						15	0.0
Informal votes				1,986			1,748
Total valid votes				154,416			154,654
Turnout				156,402	78.9	4.0
	CDU hold		Majority	20,902	13.5	10.3

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Rhein-Neckar[6]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	CDU	Y Stephan Harbarth		72,271	49.7	7.4	63,876	43.8	8.7
	SPD	Lars Castellucci		37,724	25.9	0.8	32,456	22.3	1.6
	Greens	Edith Wolber		12,031	8.3	2.3	13,912	9.5	2.2
	AfD	Sabine Knur		6,675	4.6		8,786	6.0
	Left	Bernd Malmberg		5,824	4.0	3.5	6,959	4.8	3.0
	Pirates	Andreas Hahn		3,866	2.7		3,909	2.7	0.6
	FDP	Jens Brandenburg		3,709	2.5	10.1	9,444	6.5	12.0
	NPD	Reinhard Schätz		2,040	1.4	0.5	1,936	1.3	0.0
	Tierschutzpartei						1,255	0.9	0.1
	FW						932	0.6
	ÖDP	Johannes Zimmerer		759	0.5		421	0.3	0.0
	REP	Peter Herbold		655	0.5		591	0.4	0.3
	RENTNER						342	0.2
	Volksabstimmung						267	0.2	0.0
	PBC						264	0.2	0.2
	Party of Reason						146	0.1
	PRO						125	0.1
	BIG						72	0.0
	MLPD						36	0.0	0.0
	BüSo						18	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,228			2,035
Total valid votes				145,554			145,747
Turnout				147,782	74.9	1.3
	CDU hold		Majority	34,997	23.8	6.6

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Rhein-Neckar[7]
Notes:		Blue background denotes the winner of the electorate vote. Pink background denotes a candidate elected from their party list. Yellow background denotes an electorate win by a list member, or other incumbent. A Y or N denotes status of any incumbent, win or lose respectively.
Party		Candidate		Votes	%	±%	Party votes	%	±%
	CDU	Stephan Harbarth		59,755	42.3	5.1	49,922	35.2	4.5
	SPD	Lars Castellucci		35,426	25.1	11.8	29,356	20.7	10.1
	FDP	Jörg Richter		17,833	12.6	8.1	26,191	18.5	6.5
	Greens	Charlotte Schneidewind-Hartnagel		14,952	10.6	4.8	16,723	11.8	2.3
	Left	Edgar Wunder		10,596	7.5	4.0	11,078	7.8	3.7
	Pirates						2,970	2.1
	NPD	Andreas Schäfer		2,725	1.9	0.0	1,894	1.3	0.1
	Tierschutzpartei						1,060	0.7
	REP						979	0.7	0.1
	PBC						489	0.3	0.1
	ÖDP						406	0.3
	Volksabstimmung						328	0.2
	DIE VIOLETTEN						267	0.2
	DVU						95	0.1
	ADM						66	0.0
	BüSo						65	0.0	0.0
	MLPD						49	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,928			2,277
Total valid votes				141,287			141,938
Turnout				144,215	73.6	7.0
	CDU hold		Majority	24,329	17.2	6.7

Notes

1. Moritz Oppelt (CDU) won with 34.4% but seat remained vacant due to insufficient second votes cover.