Rotenburg I – Heidekreis

Rotenburg I – Heidekreis 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 35. It is located in northern Lower Saxony, comprising the Heidekreis district and the southern part of the Rotenburg district.

35 Rotenburg I – Heidekreis
Former electoral district for the Bundestag
Rotenburg I – Heidekreis in 2025
State	Lower Saxony
Population	215,800 (2019)
Electorate	168,927 (2021)
Major settlements	Walsrode Soltau Rotenburg an der Wümme
Area	2,734.5 km2
Former electoral district
Created	1980 2009 (re-established)
Abolished	2002
Party	SPD
Member	Lars Klingbeil
Elected	2017, 2021

Rotenburg I – Heidekreis was created for the 1980 federal election. It was abolished in 2002 and re-established in the 2009 federal election. Since 2017, it has been represented by Lars Klingbeil of the Social Democratic Party (SPD).

Geography

Rotenburg I – Heidekreis is located in northern Lower Saxony. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the entirety of the Heidekreis district, as well as the municipalities of Rotenburg an der Wümme, Scheeßel, and Visselhövede and the Samtgemeinden of Bothel, Fintel, and Sottrum from the Rotenburg district.

History

Rotenburg I – Heidekreis was created in 1980, then known as Soltau – Rotenburg. In its first incarnation, it was constituency 30 in the numbering system. Originally, the constituency comprised the districts of Soltau-Fallingbostel and Rotenburg. In the 1987 election, it was renamed Soltau-Fallingbostel – Rotenburg II. It was abolished in the 2002 election, and divided between the new constituencies of Rotenburg – Verden and Soltau-Fallingbostel – Winsen L.

The constituency was re-established in the 2009 election, acquiring the name Rotenburg I – Soltau-Fallingbostel. It was constituency number 36. In the 2013 election, it was renamed to Rotenburg I – Heidekreis and became constituency number 34. Its borders have not changed since its re-establishment.

Election	No.	Name	Borders
1980	30	Soltau – Rotenburg	Soltau-Fallingbostel district Rotenburg district
1983
1987		Soltau-Fallingbostel – Rotenburg II
1990
1994
1998
2002	Abolished
2005
2009	36	Rotenburg I – Soltau-Fallingbostel	Heidekreis district Rotenburg district (only Rotenburg an der Wümme, Scheeßel, and Visselhövede municipalities and Bothel, Fintel, and Sottrum Samtgemeinden)
2013	34	Rotenburg I – Heidekreis
2017
2021
2025

Members

The constituency was first held by Ingeborg Hoffmann of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), who served from 1980 until 1990. She was succeeded by fellow CDU member Heinz-Günter Bargfrede, who served until 1998. In 1998, Kurt Palis of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) won the constituency, serving until its abolition in the next Bundestag term. After its re-establishment in the 2009 election, Reinhard Grindel of the CDU won the constituency and served two terms. In 2017, Lars Klingbeil was elected as representative.

Election		Member	Party	%
	1980	Ingeborg Hoffmann	CDU	47.0
	1983			53.9
	1987			49.2
	1990	Heinz-Günter Bargfrede	CDU	50.9
	1994			49.6
	1998	Kurt Palis	SPD	47.0
Abolished (2002–2009)
	2009	Reinhard Grindel	CDU	40.2
	2013			44.8
	2017	Lars Klingbeil	SPD	41.2
	2021			47.6

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Rotenburg I – Heidekreis
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 Lars Klingbeil		59,131	47.6	6.4	43,196	34.8	7.6
	CDU	Carsten Büttinghaus		32,720	26.4	9.7	31,119	25.1	12.7
	Greens	Michael Kopatz		10,035	8.1	3.3	16,857	13.6	5.6
	AfD	Volker Körlin		9,182	7.4	0.8	9,945	8.0	1.2
	FDP	Alexander Künzle		7,354	5.9	1.4	12,526	10.1	1.6
	Left	Kathrin Otte		3,010	2.4	1.7	3,536	2.8	3.0
	Tierschutzpartei						1,754	1.4	0.5
	FW	Günter Scheunemann		2,734	2.2	1.1	1,433	1.2	0.5
	dieBasis						1,192	1.0
	PARTEI						1,057	0.9	0.2
	Pirates						444	0.4	0.0
	Volt						341	0.3
	NPD						186	0.1	0.2
	Team Todenhöfer						180	0.1
	ÖDP						107	0.1	0.0
	Humanists						94	0.1
	V-Partei3						90	0.1	0.0
	du.						74	0.1
	LKR						42	0.0
	DKP						17	0.0	0.0
	MLPD						14	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				934			896
Total valid votes				124,166			124,204
Turnout				125,100	74.1	1.5
	SPD hold		Majority	26,411	21.2	16.1

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Rotenburg I – Heidekreis
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	Lars Klingbeil		51,938	41.2	0.6	34,211	27.1	4.1
	CDU	Kathrin Rösel		45,510	36.1	8.7	47,558	37.7	5.9
	AfD	Michael Stewart		10,331	8.2		11,671	9.3	5.5
	Greens	Ellen Gause		6,053	4.8	0.2	10,068	8.0	0.5
	FDP	Hendrik Jürgens		5,659	4.5	2.8	10,699	8.5	4.4
	Left	Agnes Hasenjäger		5,219	4.1	0.2	7,422	5.9	1.3
	FW	Günter Scheunemann		1,387	1.1	0.0	770	0.6	0.0
	Tierschutzpartei						1,145	0.9	0.1
	PARTEI						877	0.7
	NPD						447	0.4	0.7
	Pirates						396	0.3	1.1
	DM						219	0.2
	BGE						188	0.1
	DiB						138	0.1
	V-Partei³						137	0.1
	ÖDP						114	0.1
	MLPD						34	0.0	0.0
	DKP						10	0.0
Informal votes				974			967
Total valid votes				126,097			126,104
Turnout				127,071	75.6	2.4
	SPD gain from CDU		Majority	6,428	5.1

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Rotenburg I – Heidekreis
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 Reinhard Grindel		54,448	44.8	4.6	53,163	43.6	8.5
	SPD	Lars Klingbeil		49,301	40.6	5.3	38,018	31.2	3.6
	Greens	Hans-Peter Ludewig		6,026	5.0	2.6	10,332	8.5	1.6
	Left	Lennart Onken		4,758	3.9	3.0	5,572	4.6	3.5
	FDP	Henrik Schröder		2,097	1.7	6.5	4,930	4.0	10.0
	AfD						4,586	3.8
	Pirates	Stefan Scharringhausen		1,875	1.5		1,722	1.4	0.5
	NPD	Ingo Rüdiger Helge		1,617	1.3	0.4	1,275	1.0	0.5
	FW	Günter Scheunemann		1,384	1.1		796	0.7
	Tierschutzpartei						1,028	0.8	0.1
	PBC						174	0.1
	PRO						143	0.1
	REP						68	0.1
	MLPD						22	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,317			994
Total valid votes				121,506			121,829
Turnout				122,823	73.2	0.8
	CDU hold		Majority	5,147	4.2	0.7

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Rotenburg I – Soltau-Fallingbostel
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	Reinhard Grindel		48,344	40.2	1.5	42,324	35.1	0.7
	SPD	Lars Klingbeil		42,395	35.3	9.3	33,279	27.6	13.1
	FDP	Knuth Uhland		9,895	8.2	4.0	16,930	14.0	4.5
	Greens	Sven-Christian Kindler		9,101	7.6	3.5	12,155	10.1	3.1
	Left	Heinz Kühsel		8,366	7.0	3.6	9,759	8.1	4.1
	NPD	Matthias Behrens		2,138	1.8	0.1	1,825	1.5	0.0
	Pirates						2,252	1.9
	Tierschutzpartei						1,172	1.0	0.3
	RRP						597	0.5
	DVU						167	0.1
	ÖDP						133	0.1
	MLPD						22	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,702			1,326
Total valid votes				120,239			120,615
Turnout				121,941	72.3	6.3
	CDU win new seat		Majority	5,949	4.9