House of Representatives election | These celebrities are leaving the House of Representatives

Timur Husein (CDU), Katrin Schmidberger (Greens), Tino Schopf (SPD) and Dirk Stettner (from left to right) are no longer members of the new House of Representatives. Photo: IMAGO/dts news agency; dpa/Bernd von Jutrczenka; Annette Riedl; Fabian Sommer The shifting of chairs begins: Even before the election to the Berlin House of Representatives (AGH), it was clear that some prominent politicians would be leaving parliament. Andreas Geisel (SPD), for example, who was alternately urban development senator and interior senator from 2014 to 2023, did not run again. The same is true for the former state chairman of the Greens and former Finance Senator Daniel Wesener. He had made outstanding contributions to clearing up the funding scandal in the last legislative period. It was also clear that Klaus Lederer and Elke Breitenbach, who left the Left Party in 2024 in the dispute over the Middle East conflict, would not be members of the new AGH.

Some politicians had legitimate hopes of winning a mandate, but have to look for other employment. Most prominent: Franziska Giffey (SPD), who had no place on the list and did not win her constituency in Rudow. In the meantime she was Federal Minister of Education, then Governing Mayor and finally Senator for Economic Affairs.

But the Berlin SPD faction doesn't just lose Giffey. Your transport policy spokesman will also not be a member of the new AGH. Tino Schopf was able to achieve an above-average result in his constituency in Pankow. With 25.3 percent of the first votes, he received more than twice as many votes as his party received second votes (12.5 percent). Only for Lars Düsterhöft from Treptow-Köpenick, the only SPD politician who was able to win a direct mandate in the AGH election, was the difference larger.

In the black-red coalition, Schopf was one of the loudest internal critics of the transport policy of the Transport Senate led by the CDU. He criticized Senator Ute Bonde's plan to build a magnetic levitation train as a "castle in the air" and "irritating." In a debate in the House of Representatives, he said to Bonde: "I wonder whether you are in the right place for this office." Probably his greatest achievement in the last legislature was that he uncovered machinations in the rental car industry. By inspecting files at the State Office for Civil and Regulatory Affairs, he found out that numerous companies that worked for ride-hailing companies such as Uber, Bolt or Free Now were actually not allowed to receive a license. As a result of the “rental car scandal,” registration practices in Berlin became much more rigorous.

“You take on political responsibility for a while – that’s democracy,” said Schopf, a trained transport clerk, in a statement about his departure from parliament. He is grateful “for ten exciting and eventful years.”

The Berlin Greens faction has to cope with a particular professional loss. Katrin Schmidberger, who has been her parliamentary group's spokeswoman for the important issue of rents since 2016, has lost her direct mandate in the former stronghold of the eco-party Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg. She first moved to the AGH via the state list in 2011. In 2016, 2021 and 2023 she won the direct mandate with over 40 percent each. Even now, with 33.5 percent, she has achieved the third-best first vote result of the Greens, but still has to admit defeat to the left-wing politician Michael Efler (37.1 percent). Schmidberger did not have a place on the list and therefore has to give up her mandate.

The party left has made a name for itself as a housing politician in recent years. Within the party, she was the biggest supporter of the implementation of the referendum “Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen & Co”. While the Greens governed from 2016 to 2023 together with the SPD and the Left, they worked, among other things, on the implementation of the rent cap and on the law prohibiting misappropriation. The latter gives districts the opportunity to prohibit speculative vacancies, the use of living space for holiday apartments or the demolition of apartments. It was always important to her to support the districts, she says. In the opposition since 2023, she has been involved, among other things, in drafting the Greens' “Affordable Rent Act”.

“I thank the people of Kreuzberg for clearly electing a progressive government against the CDU,” says the Kreuzberg Greens to “nd”. "But the result hurts because we lost ground between the left-wing and CDU escalation and were apparently not sufficiently perceived as a left-green force." This will have to be processed and evaluated. However, she will take part in the upcoming coalition negotiations and hand over her issue to her successor - if, after forming a government, Green MPs give up their mandate in favor of a senatorial post, it will probably be Julian Schwarze. It was a great privilege to be a member of parliament, said Schmidberger. "I would have liked to continue to contribute something positive, but that's democracy," she says.

With its parliamentary group leader Dirk Stettner, the Berlin CDU is also losing a political heavyweight. In the 2023 election, he won his constituency in Pankow with 30.2 percent. This time he only got 17.3 percent and had to admit defeat to the AfD candidate Herbert Mohr, who got 22.9 percent of the vote. Stettner was unable to move in via the district list. He has been a member of the House of Representatives since 2011. Stettner is known for his role as an agitator who deals harshly against political opponents.

But that's not why Stettner became known beyond the state political bubble: he is one of the central players in the funding affair. In particular, he and the CDU's budget spokesman, Christian Goiny, who is also leaving the AGH, are accused of exerting undue pressure on the cultural administration so that it promotes projects "against anti-Semitism" that are acceptable to CDU politicians. However, the majority of the funded projects had no recognizable expertise on the topic. After the State Audit Office classified the awarding of around 2.6 million euros in funding for 13 projects as "evidently unlawful" in April, the non-party Senator for Culture Sarah Wedl-Wilson had to resign. Since July, the Berlin public prosecutor's office has been investigating her on suspicion of infidelity. The affair had no legal consequences for Stettner. In the committee investigating the affair, Stettner said that his pushing was a "completely normal process."

On the short message platform The Berlin CDU has already found a successor for the parliamentary group chairmanship. On Monday, the Berlin state executive committee agreed to nominate Stefan Evers, the incumbent finance senator and top candidate for mayor, for the office.

Timur Husein, another CDU politician involved in the funding scandal, loses his mandate. The local chairman of the CDU Kreuzberg moved into the AGH in the repeat election in 2023. This time it wasn't enough for him. The left-wing politician Michael Efler won his constituency in Kreuzberg; Husein could not move in via the list. According to research by the “Taz” and the “Tagesspiegel”, he is also said to have tried to influence the cultural administration.

The lawyer came under particular criticism in November 2025 when he criticized the left-wing top candidate Elif Eralp because she had demanded a right to remain for Sinti and Roma. In the nd interview, Eralp justified this with the historical responsibility that Germany bears in view of the murder of 500,000 members of the minority during the Nazi era. Husein used the discriminatory Z-word and spoke of “illegal immigration.” “It was a great honor for me to be able to represent Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg in parliament,” Husein said on X and explained that he would no longer continue his political work in the AGH. »My heartfelt thanks go to all voters, supporters, followers and also the critics.«

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