176 Hochtaunus
Electoral district for the Bundestag
Hochtaunus in 2013
State	Hesse
Population	252,300 (2019)
Electorate	179,842 (2021)
Major settlements	Bad Homburg vor der Höhe Oberursel (Taunus) Friedrichsdorf
Area	812.5 km2
Current electoral district
Created	1949
Party	CDU
Member	Markus Koob
Elected	2013, 2017, 2021

Hochtaunus 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 176. It is located in southwestern Hesse, comprising most of Hochtaunuskreis and the northeastern part of the Limburg-Weilburg district.^[1]

Hochtaunus was created for the inaugural 1949 federal election. Since 2013, it has been represented by Markus Koob of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU).^[2]

Geography

Hochtaunus is located in southwestern Hesse. As of the 2021 federal election, it comprises the entirety of the Hochtaunuskreis district excluding the municipalities of Königstein im Taunus, Kronberg im Taunus, and Steinbach (Taunus), as well as the municipalities of Beselich, Löhnberg, Mengerskirchen, Merenberg, Runkel, Villmar, Weilburg, Weilmünster, and Weinbach from the Limburg-Weilburg district.^[1]

History

Hochtaunus was created in 1949, then known as Obertaunuskreis. In the 1972 election, it was named Obertaunuskreis (Hochtaunuskreis). It acquired its current name in the 1976 election. In the 1949 election, it was Hesse constituency 10 in the numbering system. From 1953 through 1976, it was number 135. From 1980 through 1998, it was number 133. In the 2002 and 2005 elections, it was number 177. Since the 2009 election, it has been number 176.

Originally, the constituency comprised the districts of Oberlahnkreis, Obertaunuskreis, and Usingen. From 1976 through 1998, it comprised the Hochtaunuskreis district, the municipalities of Beselich, Löhnberg, Mengerskirchen, Merenberg, Runkel, Villmar, Weilburg, Weilmünster, and Weinbach from the Limburg-Weilburg district, and the municipalities of Eppstein and Kelkheim from the Main-Taunus-Kreis district. It acquired its current borders in the 2002 election.

Members

The constituency was represented by six different members in the first six terms of the Bundestag: Heinrich Müller of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) from 1949 to 1953, Erich Köhler of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) from 1953 to 1957, Berthold Martin of the CDU from 1957 to 1961, Kurt Gscheidle of the SPD from 1961 to 1965, Walther Leisler Kiep of the CDU from 1965 to 1969, and Dietrich Sperling of the SPD from 1969 to 1973. Sperling was re-elected in 1972. Manfred Langner won the constituency for the CDU in 1976 and served until 1990, when he was succeeded by fellow party member Bärbel Sothmann. Holger Haibach served from 2002 to 2013. Markus Koob was elected in 2013, and re-elected in 2017 and 2021.

Election results

2021 election

Federal election (2021): Hochtaunus[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	Y Markus Koob		44,549	31.3	8.6	37,331	26.2	7.3
	SPD	Alicia Bokler		38,424	27.0	4.0	35,171	24.6	4.6
	Greens	Christian Tramnitz		21,769	15.3	6.4	22,486	15.8	6.0
	FDP	Katja Adler		16,132	11.3	1.0	21,996	15.4	0.4
	AfD	Henning Thöne		10,709	7.5	2.9	11,156	7.8	3.3
	Left	André Pabst		3,772	2.6	3.3	4,441	3.1	3.5
	FW	Hubert Horn		3,369	2.4	1.0	2,246	1.6	0.8
	Tierschutzpartei						2,026	1.4	0.2
	dieBasis	Thomas Schumbert		2,347	1.6		1,880	1.3
	PARTEI						1,053	0.7	0.0
	Pirates	Carsten Baums		1,385	1.0		739	0.5	0.2
	Volt						594	0.4
	Team Todenhöfer						533	0.4
	Gesundheitsforschung						200	0.1
	NPD						155	0.1	0.2
	Humanists						148	0.1
	V-Partei3						128	0.1	0.1
	ÖDP						127	0.1	0.1
	Bündnis C						113	0.1
	Bündnis 21						68	0.0
	LKR						47	0.0
	DKP						32	0.0	0.0
	MLPD						12	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				1,556			1,330
Total Valid votes				142,456			142,682
Turnout				144,012	80.1	0.5
	CDU hold		Majority	6,125	4.3	12.6

2017 election

Federal election (2017): Hochtaunus[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	Y Markus Koob		57,579	39.9	8.8	48,436	33.5	9.5
	SPD	Hans-Joachim Schabedoth		33,201	23.0	5.0	28,947	20.0	4.7
	AfD	Andreas John Lichert		15,075	10.4	4.8	16,132	11.2	4.3
	FDP	Stefan Ruppert		14,954	10.4	6.8	21,713	15.0	7.5
	Greens	Wolfgang Schmitt		12,884	8.9	1.6	14,074	9.7	0.5
	Left	Silvia Lehmann		8,556	5.9	1.9	9,562	6.6	2.0
	Tierschutzpartei						1,751	1.2
	FW	Peter Schüppenhauer		2,011	1.4		1,090	0.8	0.1
	PARTEI						1,079	0.7	0.4
	Pirates						476	0.3	1.3
	NPD						388	0.3	0.5
	BGE						238	0.2
	V-Partei³						222	0.2
	ÖDP						218	0.2
	DM						202	0.1
	MLPD						31	0.0	0.0
	BüSo						26	0.0	0.0
	DKP						24	0.0
Informal votes				2,055			1,706
Total Valid votes				144,260			144,609
Turnout				146,315	80.6	3.8
	CDU hold		Majority	24,378	16.9	3.8

2013 election

Federal election (2013): Hochtaunus[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	Markus Koob		66,785	48.8	3.5	58,822	43.0	7.0
	SPD	Hans-Joachim Schabedoth		38,435	28.1	2.7	33,846	24.7	3.3
	Greens	Jutta Bruns		10,064	7.3	2.0	12,690	9.3	2.2
	AfD	Konrad Adam		7,748	5.7		9,447	6.9
	Left	Steffen Etzel		5,482	4.0	1.4	6,358	4.6	2.0
	FDP	Stefan Ruppert		4,866	3.6	8.2	10,334	7.5	12.6
	Pirates	Sascha Neugebauer		2,194	1.6		2,266	1.7	0.2
	NPD	Patrick Huth		934	0.7	0.1	1,024	0.7	0.0
	FW						876	0.6
	PARTEI						510	0.4
	REP	Helmar Zeeh		467	0.3	0.3	469	0.3	0.2
	PRO						134	0.1
	BüSo						51	0.0	0.1
	PSG						38	0.0
	MLPD						18	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,911			3,003
Total Valid votes				136,975			136,883
Turnout				139,886	76.8	0.6
	CDU hold		Majority	28,350	20.7	0.9

2009 election

Federal election (2009): Hochtaunus[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 Holger Haibach		62,748	45.2	0.1	49,902	35.9	1.4
	SPD	Hans-Joachim Schabedoth		35,257	25.4	10.2	29,758	21.4	8.2
	FDP	Stefan Ruppert		16,255	11.7	2.7	27,979	20.1	4.6
	Greens	Norman Dießner		12,976	9.4	4.3	15,877	11.4	1.6
	Left	Steffen Etzel		7,522	5.4	1.6	9,229	6.6	2.1
	Pirates						2,552	1.8
	Tierschutzpartei	Sigrid Wellmann		2,074	1.5		1,472	1.1	0.3
	NPD	Josephine Fröhlich		1,081	0.8	0.5	1,055	0.8	0.2
	REP	Kim Nowak		862	0.6		807	0.6	0.2
	BüSo						127	0.1	0.0
	DVU						74	0.1
	MLPD						26	0.0	0.0
Informal votes				2,300			2,217
Total Valid votes				138,775			138,858
Turnout				141,075	77.4	4.3
	CDU hold		Majority	27,491	19.8	10.3

References