Who Is CDU’s Lead Candidate Stefan Evers—and What Are His Plans?

The Berlin CDU is swapping its top candidate for the September state election. As announced over the weekend, the openly gay Finance Senator Stefan Evers will take over the role (TheColu.mn reported). The CDU state executive board elected him unanimously late Monday afternoon. Deutsche Presse-Agentur learned this from the state executive board. The expectations inside the party for the 46-year-old are high. Who is Evers and what does he plan to do?

What has Stefan Evers been doing so far?
He is currently Berlin’s deputy head of government, a role described as the deputy to the governing mayor. In a dual capacity, he is also the Finance Senator and, since the resignation of Culture Senator Sarah Wedl-Wilson (non-partisan) at the end of April, has also been responsible for the culture administration (TheColu.mn reported).

Is Evers from Berlin?
No, he was born in Herdecke, North Rhine-Westphalia, grew up in Paderborn and completed his high school diploma there. But he has lived in Berlin since 1999.

What did he do before his career in state politics?
Evers studied law at the University of Potsdam and then worked as a staffer in the Bundestag for CDU members Friedhelm Ost and Werner Kuhn.

How long has he been active in state politics?

Within the Berlin CDU, Stefan Evers is a familiar face. In the background, he has taken on a string of duties over the years and has been a member of the Abgeordnetenhaus (the Berlin state parliament) since 2011. When discussions turned to who in the state CDU might be in line for higher offices, his name had repeatedly come up in the past.
What roles has he held so far?
Evers began his career in the state parliament as deputy floor leader and held that post until 2018. Afterward, he was parliamentary managing director of the CDU parliamentary group until 2023, and from December 2016 to fall 2023 also general secretary of the state party.

What is his relationship with Kai Wegner?
Evers was already general secretary when Monika Grütters was still the CDU state chair. Her intra-party rival Kai Wegner replaced her in 2019 but kept Evers in his role. In the 2023 election, Evers played a key role in the campaign that delivered the CDU victory. Wegner subsequently brought him into the state government as Finance Senator. Evers is regarded as loyal and has publicly not joined in criticizing Wegner.

What strengths are attributed to Evers?
The CDU politician has a reputation for being technically competent, to drill into topics, think quickly, and often speak quickly as well. In the state parliament, he regularly delivers very matter-of-fact briefings on financial policy, but he also has another side: he does not spare political opponents, and his attacks are often sharply worded — for instance, when he recently on social media called for “a firewall against left-green populism.” In campaigning, he has certainly eschewed velvet gloves.

What is criticized about Evers?
Opposition voices have often accused him of urging solid budgetary policy in his speeches while, in practice, having supported record debt in Berlin. As part of the black-red state government, he is also seen as partly responsible for many of the capital’s missteps.

What can be expected in the campaign?
Evers has already spoken on a few policy priorities and, for example, criticized free school meals, an issue that particularly the SPD parliamentary leader Raed Saleh has repeatedly supported. That can be read as a challenge to the previous coalition partner. Additionally, Evers has announced that he will do everything possible to prevent a left-green government in Berlin. Sharp criticism of particularly The Left is almost certain in the coming weeks.

Does his homosexuality play a political role?

Stefan Evers has always been openly gay. In 2015 he entered a domestic partnership, and he has since married his partner, while keeping his private life out of the public eye. In November 2025, in a talk-format called “Shadow Cabinet” at the Berlin BKA Theater, he spoke more openly about this topic with drag queen Margot Schlönzke. There, he stated, among other things: “I have never gone into politics to fight for my identity.”

Evers stressed that his entry into the Paderborn CDU in 1998 was more tangentially related to his life as a queer man and that within the party — even after his move to the Berlin CDU in 1999 — he “never faced resistance.” He also spoke about how much the famous line by former governing mayor Klaus Wowereit (“I’m gay, and that’s good”) shaped him. When Wowereit announced his resignation, Evers wrote him a personal letter expressing that that very sentence also had great significance for him and his own “advancement.” Wowereit’s example showed that acceptance across party lines could be achieved, something he said cannot be valued highly enough.

How well known is Evers in Berlin so far?
Stefan Evers has long been active in state politics and, by virtue of his height alone, stands out among many others. He is not someone people immediately recognize as he strolls around. Professionally, he is regarded as culturally engaged and a film buff. On Saturday he posted on X that he planned to attend the Pet Shop Boys concert at the Waldbühne in the evening. The Berliner Morgenpost revealed that he views the Tierpark Friedrichsfelde as a magical place, with his favorites there being the red pandas.

There is another openly gay top candidate
Evers is not the only openly gay top candidate: The Greens already named Werner Graf in November 2025 to move into the Red City Hall as the new governing mayor (TheColu.mn reported). Currently, CDU, SPD, Greens, and AfD are in a neck-and-neck race in Berlin according to polls — the strongest democratic party would probably have the best chance to hold the governorship after the election.