Waldeck (electoral district)

166 Waldeck
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Waldeck in 2025
State	Hesse
Population	234,200 (2019)
Electorate	184,073 (2021)
Major settlements	Baunatal Korbach Bad Wildungen
Area	2,167.3 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	SPD
Member	Esther Dilcher
Elected	2017, 2021

Waldeck 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 166. It is located in northern Hesse, comprising most of the Landkreis Kassel district and the northern part of the Waldeck-Frankenberg district.^[1]

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

Waldeck is located in northern Hesse. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the entirety of the Landkreis Kassel district excluding the municipalities of Ahnatal, Espenau, Fuldabrück, Fuldatal, Helsa, Kaufungen, Lohfelden, Nieste, Niestetal, Söhrewald, and Vellmar, as well as the entirety of the Waldeck-Frankenberg district excluding the municipalities of Allendorf (Eder), Battenberg (Eder), Bromskirchen, Burgwald, Frankenau, Frankenberg, Gemünden (Wohra), Haina, Hatzfeld, Rosenthal, and Vöhl.^[1]

Waldeck was created in 1949. In the 1949 election, it was Hesse constituency 1 in the numbering system. From 1953 through 1976, it was number 126. From 1980 through 1998, it was number 124. In the 2002 and 2005 elections, it was number 169. In the 2009 election, it was number 168. In the 2013 through 2021 elections, it was number 167. From the 2025 election, it has been number 166.

Originally, the constituency comprised the districts of Waldeck, Hofgeismar, and Wolfhagen. In the 1972 election, it comprised the Waldeck district and the municipalities of Breuna, Calden, Emstal, Grebenstein, Habichtswald, Hofgeismar, Immenhausen, Karlshafen, Liebenau, Naumburg, Oberweser, Reinhardshagen, Trendelburg, Wahlsburg, Wolfhagen, and Zierenberg from the Landkreis Kassel district. In the 1976 election, it acquired borders very similar to its current configuration, but excluding the Baunatal and Schauenburg municipalities from Landkreis Kassel district. It acquired its current borders in the 2002 election.

The constituency has been held by the Social Democratic Party (SPD) during all but three Bundestag terms since 1949. It was first represented by Karl Rüdiger of the Free Democratic Party (FDP) from 1949 until his death in 1951. Hans Merten of the SPD won the subsequent by-election, but was defeated at the 1953 federal election by FDP candidate Heinrich Fassbender. Karl Bechert of the SPD was elected in 1957 and served until 1972. He was succeeded by Rudi Walther, who served until 1994. Alfred Hartenbach was then representative until 2009. Ullrich Meßmer served one term from 2009 to 2013, when Thomas Viesehon of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) won the constituency. Esther Dilcher regained it for the SPD in 2017 and was re-elected in 2021.

Federal election (2021): Waldeck[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 Esther Dilcher		51,613	38.0	2.9	49,064	36.1	5.2
	CDU	Armin Schwarz		35,734	26.3	7.3	30,392	22.3	7.7
	Greens	Peter Koswig		13,581	10.0	4.3	14,775	10.9	4.0
	AfD	Jan Nolte		12,536	9.2	1.8	12,899	9.5	2.2
	FDP	Jochem Rube		12,062	8.9	1.8	15,288	11.2	1.3
	Left	Regina Preysing		4,208	3.1	3.0	4,441	3.3	3.8
	FW	Kira Hauser		3,763	2.8	1.4	2,791	2.1	1.2
	Human Environment Animal Protection						1,946	1.4	0.5
	dieBasis	Daniele Saracino		1,626	1.2		1,528	1.1
	PARTEI						964	0.7	0.1
	Independent	Gerd Erwin Müller		716	0.5
	Pirates						452	0.3	0.0
	Team Todenhöfer						374	0.3
	Volt						223	0.2
	Gesundheitsforschung						218	0.2
	NPD						159	0.1	0.2
	Independent	Barbara Meyer		151	0.1
	Bündnis C						114	0.1
	ÖDP						106	0.1	0.0
	Humanists						87	0.1
	V-Partei3						83	0.1	0.0
	Bündnis 21						41	0.0
	MLPD						40	0.0	0.0
	LKR						31	0.0
	DKP						27	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,140			2,087
Total valid votes				135,990			136,043
Turnout				138,130	75.0	1.4
	SPD hold		Majority	15,879	11.7	10.2

Federal election (2017): Waldeck[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	Esther Dilcher		49,341	35.1	6.2	43,446	30.9	5.2
	CDU	N Thomas Viesehon		47,269	33.6	7.9	42,232	30.0	6.5
	AfD	Jan Ralf Nolte		15,438	11.0		16,411	11.7	6.6
	FDP	Jochen Rube		9,930	7.1	4.4	13,918	9.9	5.1
	Left	Regina Preysing		8,600	6.1	0.7	9,891	7.0	1.6
	Greens	Jürgen Frömmrich		8,062	5.7	0.6	9,660	6.9	1.2
	Human Environment Animal Protection						1,329	0.9
	FW	Vera Gleuel		1,910	1.4		1,268	0.9	0.1
	PARTEI						900	0.6	0.2
	Pirates						497	0.4	1.3
	NPD						442	0.3	0.5
	BGE						203	0.1
	DM						175	0.1
	V-Partei³						155	0.1
	ÖDP						127	0.1
	Independent	Karin Puppel		88	0.1
	MLPD						45	0.0	0.0
	BüSo						17	0.0	0.0
	DKP						17	0.0
Informal votes				2,214			2,119
Total valid votes				140,638			140,733
Turnout				142,852	76.5	3.4
	SPD gain from CDU		Majority	2,072	1.5

Federal election (2013): Waldeck[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	Thomas Viesehon		55,444	41.5	6.1	49,063	36.5	6.6
	SPD	N Ullrich Meßmer		55,217	41.3	3.5	48,420	36.0	3.0
	Greens	Caroline Chantal Tönges		8,486	6.3	1.8	10,872	8.1	1.7
	Left	Dieter Hille		7,253	5.4	2.2	7,356	5.5	3.0
	AfD						6,774	5.0
	FDP	Björn Sänger		3,579	2.7	6.9	6,452	4.8	9.9
	Pirates	Arno Schröder		3,177	2.4		2,242	1.7	0.1
	NPD						1,159	0.9
	FW						1,013	0.8
	Independent	Werner Bracht		545	0.4
	PARTEI						525	0.4
	REP						237	0.2	0.2
	PRO						152	0.1
	SGP						71	0.1
	BüSo						47	0.0	0.1
	MLPD						33	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				4,931			4,216
Total valid votes				133,701			134,416
Turnout				138,632	73.1	0.1
	CDU gain from SPD		Majority	227	0.2

Federal election (2009): Waldeck[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	Ullrich Meßmer		51,737	37.8	12.5	45,343	33.0	11.1
	CDU	Thomas Viesehon		48,414	35.3	0.9	41,109	29.9	0.3
	FDP	Björn Sänger		13,180	9.6	4.9	20,210	14.7	5.0
	Greens	Anke Pavlicek		11,209	8.2	3.7	13,498	9.8	2.3
	Left	Klaus Albrecht		10,400	7.6	2.9	11,657	8.5	3.1
	Pirates						2,175	1.6
	NPD	David Giesler		1,756	1.3	0.1	1,393	1.0	0.1
	Human Environment Animal Protection						1,121	0.8	0.2
	REP						504	0.4	0.2
	Independent	Jürgen Lenz		311	0.2
	BüSo						122	0.1	0.0
	DVU						115	0.1
	MLPD						48	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				3,801			3,513
Total valid votes				137,007			137,295
Turnout				140,808	73.2	6.3
	SPD hold		Majority	3,323	2.5	13.3