168 Kassel
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Kassel in 2013
State	Hesse
Population	304,800 (2019)
Electorate	218,474 (2021)
Major settlements	Kassel
Area	357.6 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	SPD
Member	Timon Gremmels
Elected	2017, 2021

Kassel 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 168. It is located in northern Hesse, comprising the city of Kassel and surrounding parts of the Landkreis Kassel district.^[1]

Kassel was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2017, it has been represented by Timon Gremmels of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).^[2]

Geography

Kassel is located in northern Hesse. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the independent city of Kassel and the municipalities of Ahnatal, Espenau, Fuldabrück, Fuldatal, Helsa, Kaufungen, Lohfelden, Nieste, Niestetal, Söhrewald, and Vellmar from the Landkreis Kassel district.^[1]

History

Kassel was created in 1949. In the 1949 election, it was Hesse constituency 2 in the numbering system. From 1953 through 1976, it was number 127. From 1980 through 1998, it was number 125. In the 2002 and 2005 elections, it was number 170. In the 2009 election, it was number 169. Since 2013, it has been number 168.

Originally, the constituency comprised the independent city of Kassel and the Landkreis Kassel district. In the 1965 and 1969 elections, it comprised the city of Kassel and the municipalities of Frommershausen, Heckershausen, Ihringshausen, Knickhagen, Mönchehof, Niedervellmar, Obervellmar, Rothwesten, Simmershausen, Wahnhausen, Ahnatal-Weimar, and Wilhelmshausen from Landkreis Kassel. In the 1972 through 1998 elections, it comprised the city of Kassel and the municipalities of Ahnatal, Espenau, Fuldatal, and Vellmar from Landkreis Kassel. It acquired its current borders in the 2002 election.

Members

The constituency has been held continuously by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) since its creation. It was first represented by Georg-August Zinn from 1949 until his resignation in 1951 to become Minister-President of Hesse. He was succeeded by Ludwig Preller after a by-election. Holger Börner was elected in 1957 and served until 1976, when he resigned to become Minister-President of Hesse. Horst Peter was then representative from 1980 to 1994. Gerhard Rübenkönig was elected in 1994 and served until 2005. Former Minister-President of Hesse Hans Eichel then served a single term, before being succeeded by Ulrike Gottschalck in 2009. She was representative until 2017. Timon Gremmels was elected in the 2017 election and re-elected in 2021.

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Kassel[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	%	±%
	SPD	Y Timon Gremmels		57,919	36.1	0.5	51,812	32.2	3.9
	CDU	Michael Aufenanger		32,765	20.4	6.5	28,183	17.5	7.7
	Greens	Boris Mijatović		27,744	17.3	7.9	30,348	18.9	7.4
	FDP	Matthias Nölke		12,966	8.1	2.2	16,448	10.2	1.1
	AfD	Sibylle Johst		11,348	7.1	2.9	12,141	7.5	2.9
	Left	Stephanie Schury		9,357	5.8	2.9	10,518	6.5	4.8
	Tierschutzpartei						2,346	1.5	0.5
	PARTEI	Franz Czisch		2,876	1.8	0.5	1,673	1.0	0.1
	FW	Michael Scheffler		2,563	1.6	0.8	1,824	1.1	0.5
	dieBasis	Stefan Fydrich		2,012	1.3		1,854	1.2
	Team Todenhöfer						1,159	0.7
	Pirates						694	0.4	0.0
	Volt						442	0.3
	Independent	Cornelius Sayyed El-Fayoumy		416	0.3
	Bündnis C	Wolfgang Peuckert		299	0.2		217	0.1
	Gesundheitsforschung						215	0.1
	Humanists						180	0.1
	ÖDP						175	0.1	0.0
	V-Partei3						156	0.1	0.0
	NPD						143	0.1	0.2
	MLPD	Klaus Bremer		244	0.2	0.0	133	0.1	0.0
	DKP						89	0.1	0.0
	Independent	Stephan Mascher		87	0.1
	Bündnis 21						48	0.0
	LKR						31	0.0
Informal votes				2,213			1,980
Total valid votes				160,596			160,829
Turnout				162,809	74.5	0.9
	SPD hold		Majority	25,154	15.7	7.0

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Kassel[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	%	±%
	SPD	Timon Gremmels		58,759	35.6	4.4	46,769	28.3	5.7
	CDU	Norbert Wett		44,425	26.9	8.3	41,736	25.2	5.7
	AfD	Manfred Günther Ernst Leopold Mattis		16,501	10.0		17,288	10.5	5.4
	Greens	Boris Mijatovic		15,466	9.4	1.3	18,935	11.4	1.3
	Left	Torsten Felstehausen		14,472	8.8	0.4	18,677	11.3	2.5
	FDP	Matthias Nölke[a]		9,759	5.9	3.9	15,046	9.1	5.1
	Tierschutzpartei						1,590	1.0
	PARTEI	Jan Schuster		2,180	1.3		1,589	1.0	0.5
	FW	Helmut Peter Heinz Paul		1,311	0.8		1,003	0.6	0.1
	Pirates	Robin Geddert		1,222	0.7	2.2	794	0.5	1.8
	Independent	Susanne Anita Holbein		566	0.3
	BGE						488	0.3
	NPD						417	0.3	0.5
	DM						360	0.2
	ÖDP						224	0.1
	V-Partei³						215	0.1
	MLPD	Michaela Elisabeth Theresia Jakob		313	0.2	0.0	184	0.1	0.0
	Independent	Eva-Maria Gent		304	0.2
	DKP						59	0.0
	BüSo						29	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,577			2,452
Total valid votes				165,278			165,403
Turnout				167,855	75.5	3.9
	SPD hold		Majority	14,334	8.7	3.9

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Kassel[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	%	±%
	SPD	Y Ulrike Gottschalck		62,178	40.0	2.0	53,232	34.0	2.8
	CDU	Norbert Wett		54,674	35.2	4.8	48,361	30.9	5.4
	Greens	Nicole Maisch		16,559	10.7	1.6	19,884	12.7	2.1
	Left	Kai Manuel Boeddinghaus		13,066	8.4	1.5	13,680	8.7	2.5
	AfD						7,977	5.1
	Pirates	Volker Berkhout		4,624	3.0		3,575	2.3	0.0
	FDP	Matthias Nölke		3,192	2.1	5.7	6,259	4.0	8.6
	NPD						1,218	0.8	0.0
	Independent	Herbert Wolfgang Dirk Stolte		845	0.5
	FW						839	0.5
	PARTEI						796	0.5
	REP						198	0.1	0.2
	PRO						155	0.1
	PSG						89	0.1
	BüSo						51	0.0	0.1
	MLPD	Joachim Karl Ludolf Gärtner		325	0.2	0.0	165	0.1	0.0
Informal votes				5,232			4,216
Total valid votes				155,463			156,479
Turnout				160,695	71.6	0.8
	SPD hold		Majority	7,504	4.8	2.8

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Kassel[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	%	±%
	SPD	Ulrike Gottschalck		59,621	38.0	12.5	49,114	31.3	12.6
	CDU	Jürgen Gehb		47,643	30.4	0.2	40,134	25.5	1.0
	Greens	Nicole Maisch		19,246	12.3	4.5	23,320	14.8	3.0
	Left	Norbert Domes		15,453	9.9	4.1	17,656	11.2	4.5
	FDP	Mechthild Dyckmans		12,188	7.8	3.8	19,820	12.6	4.4
	Pirates						3,523	2.2
	Tierschutzpartei						1,374	0.9	0.3
	NPD	Martin Radtke		1,594	1.0	0.1	1,275	0.8	0.1
	Independent	Olaf Petersen		715	0.5
	REP						470	0.3	0.2
	MLPD	Barbara Meyer		319	0.2	0.1	173	0.1	0.0
	BüSo						159	0.1	0.0
	DVU						112	0.1
Informal votes				4,254			3,903
Total valid votes				156,779			157,130
Turnout				161,033	72.3	6.1
	SPD hold		Majority	11,978	7.6	12.3